PANAJI
The Anti-Corruption Bureau of the Department of Vigilance on Tuesday trapped Additional Collector of North Goa Sabaji Shetye red-handed at his office in Panaji while accepting an amount of Rs 25,000, a part of the Rs 95,000 bribe that he had allegedly demanded for granting a No Objection Certificate for issuing three licenses for storage of explosives.
ACB placed the senior bureaucrat under arrest late on Tuesday night after completion of the process of attachment of the cash received by him as a bribe. The same has been sealed and packed and Shetye’s fingerprints have also been secured.
Speaking to the media, Superintendent of Police (ACB) Bosco George informed that the FIR against Shetye was booked on May 19 under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
“The ACB received a complaint from one engineering consultant for petroleum and explosives storage licenses, Nishikant Pai Kurade. The complainant informed about Shetye’s illegal demand for a bribe for clearing of the file for NOC,” SP George stated.
As per the complaint, Kurade initially approached Shetye with four applications for re-validation and increasing of explosive storage capacity. When the two met in March, Shetye asked Kurade to return after a week while expressly hinting that the applications will be referred to the directorate of fire and emergency services for its NOC only for ‘consideration’.
However, when the complainant secured the DFES NOCs and submitted the same, unnecessary queries were raised by Shetye in connection with the four files.
Following this, Shetye demanded Rs 50,000 for each of the four NOCs and in two cases, an advance payment. Kurade conveyed this to his clients and one of the clients declined to move further owing to the high amount demanded by Shetye. Three others asked Kurade to pursue the matter as per his judgment.
Accordingly, Kurade met Shetye on the afternoon of May 16 to re-negotiate and requested him to lower his demands. The bureaucrat conceded and made the renewed offer of Rs 95,000 for all the three files which included Rs 40,000 for one of the NOCs, Rs 30,000 for another and Rs 25,000 for the third one.
On May 18, it was agreed that the amount will be readied and paid in three separate envelopes only after the clearing of the three files. However, this time, Kurade recorded the entire conversation which took place in the official chamber of the additional collector Shetye. The same has been attached in CD format to the complaint as proof of the graft charges. After registration of the FIR, Kurade attempted to meet Shetye on two occasions to hand over the money with the ACB team tailing him. However, Shetye rescheduled the meeting.
Meanwhile, it was learnt that the ACB is likely to search the three addresses of residential spaces owned by Shetye as a part of the arrest and panchnama procedure.
