PANAJI
A Division bench of the Bombay High Court at Goa on Monday directed the State government to hand over to the CBI the investigation into the Kamaxi Forex duping case with the aim of ‘meeting the ends of justice’.
Disposing off the petition, the High Court bench Goa comprising of Justice F M Reis and Justice Nutan Sardessai has directed the CBI team to file a progress report of the probe every four months.
“Considering that more than 861 persons have invested their savings with the company in question, it would require a comprehensive, effective and credible investigation to unearth larger conspiracy angle and other important aspects which are involved in the activities which have deprived the investors of their lifetime savings,” reads the HC order.
HC further noted that the EOC lacks the requisite efficiency of investigating the offence of this nature which require scientific, forensic and technical expertise to unearth the fraud.
The order has cited the complex nature of the scam and the inter-state verification it may necessitate while handing over the probe to the independent agency. “This is primarily because a substantial amount has been collected from large number of public depositors which would require a speedy and efficient investigation against the persons involved in the crime,” the order states.
Meanwhile, CBI has filed an application before the HC requesting directions to the government to provide its investigating team with at least seven to eight police personnel including one deputy Superintendent of Police, two Police Inspectors and three to four sub-inspectors in order to probe the matter.
CBI has also requested for logistic support such as a vehicle, mobile phones and a camp office at Margao as Kamaxi Forex has its main offices in the town.
Sources from Goa Police informed that the entire process of handing over the voluminous bunch of case papers to the central investigating agency would take a minimum of fifteen days. Adv Aires Rodrigues and Adv Arun Braz de Sa representing the duped investors had previously argued that the present probe into the matter by EOC of Goa Police has been lax.
Kamaxi Forex directors Nilesh Raikar, his wife Nilima Raikar and his mother Rekha Raikar were booked by EOC under Sections of the Indian Penal Code for cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy among other offences.
