PANAJI
Disgraced Mamlatdar Rahul Dessai’s interrogation could spill the beans on the purported involvement of a few more officials from the Revenue Department in the land fraud.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) sleuths of the Crime Branch (CB) interrogated Dessai for three days although it could not succeed to get his police custody extended. Dessai was granted bail on Monday.
Sources told The Goan that some Revenue officials, currently and formerly posted at Bardez and other taluka offices are being probed for their alleged involvement in the scam. “Their direct or indirect link with Dessai as well as the entire land scam is being examined. The SIT is working on a foolproof case against them to ensure prosecution when the case is on trial after charge sheet,” an official said.
The investigating team is also scrutinizing the transactions of these officials and their employment history at different offices. Their call records and messages are also being retrieved as a part of the ongoing probe.
Dessai -- yet to face his suspension for the crime -- was posted as Bardez Mamlatdar which is when he allegedly facilitated and masterminded the scam worth crores of rupees. On the last day of his custody on Sunday, the investigation sleuths searched his house at Caranzalem.
Dessai faces two FIRs by the SIT for an offense wherein he is charged with conniving with a prime accused, Royson Rodrigues and his accomplices to forge land-related documents and allow its sale for a whopping amount. Rodrigues had confessed to the SIT that he connived with Dessai to illegally transfer ownership rights.
The officer was recently transferred to Mormugao despite nearly two dozen complaints filed by various aggrieved parties against him. Dessai’s call records and messages are being retrieved.
In a setback to ongoing probe, driver attached to the office of Bardez Mamlatdar Yogesh Wazarkar and one of the masterminds in land scam cases Rajkumar Maithi were also granted bail.
