PANAJI
Vinod Desai, who was arrested by Old Goa police on Tuesday for allegedly cheating a person of Rs 2 lakh with a promise that he will ensure a government job was on Wednesday released by a court on conditional bail.
Desai was arrested under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code following a complaint by a Merces resident Mervin Fernandes.
Fernandes had alleged said Desai deceived him by inducing him to pay the money on the assurance that he would get a government job. But the job never came and the money has not been returned
till date.
Fernandes’ complaint said that Desai in 2014 pretended that he was working in union minister Shripad Naik’s office as an office assistant and promised to ensure government placement.
The union minister’s personal secretary Suraj Naik, however, issued a press release on Wednesday saying that the said Vinod Desai never worked with Shripad Naik at any point in time.
According to the complaint, Fernandes paid Rs 2 lakh to Vinod Desai in presence of one bar owner at Ribandar.
Fernandes said in his complaint that he went to meet Vinod at the office-cum-residence of union minister Shripad Naik at Sao-Pedro to remind him of the promised job. He accused Desai of neither fulfilling his promises nor refunding his money.
Finally on June 28, the accused issued a cheque of Rs one lakh but it bounced. Fernandes attached the bounced cheque to his complaint.
