PORVORIM
Two politicians including a sitting MLA have been fortunate enough to have First Information Reports against them quashed while several other cases against other accused are pending investigation.
St Cruz MLA Rudolf Fernandes and TMC’s defeated candidate Sandeep Vazarkar, against whom FIRs were registered in 2021 and 2022 respectively, are no longer under the police’s purview in land-related investigation.
The investigation began in 2019 when the Crime Branch registered a case against Fernandes and some government officials, based on a complaint filed by the then Deputy Collector (Revenue) Gurudas Dessai. The charges were related to alleged fraud concerning Survey No. 43/3, 44/3, and 44/1-A in the village of Chimbel.
While several other cases were transferred to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) Land Grab for a comprehensive probe, the FIR against him and the officials was quashed.
Similarly, Vazarkar who faced arrest by the SIT on charges of forging land documents and cheating a couple out of Rs 27 lakh, also managed to get the FIR against him quashed.
The information was tabled by CM Pramod Sawant in response to a question by Aldona MLA Carlos Ferreira.
Of around 78 cases being investigated by different police stations, the Crime Branch and SIT - constituted last year, three FIRs have been quashed and around 48 cases are under investigation.
Several arrests have been made in connection with these cases. Chargesheet by the SIT is awaited while about a dozen cases investigated by respective police stations are pending trial and also under probe.
Some of the cases were also closed, one of which involves UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s ancestral property in Assagao. The SIT filed a C-Final report after the UK family decided not to pursue the case. The SIT took over the investigation after Suella’s father, Crishtie Fernandes, alleged in an email to the Goa government and State police that two of his ancestral properties in Assagao were usurped.
After a preliminary inquiry, the SIT registered an FIR in September 2022 but it turned out to be a family feud. Sources said the family later wrote another email to the Goa government that it did not want to pursue the case.
