Margao court directs accused to appear before EOC twice a week
the goan I network
MARGAO/PANAJI
Chief Judicial Magistrate, Margao Judge Kalpana Gauns later remanded the accused back to judicial custody since he could not furnish the bail nor the sureties on Thursday.
In her order delivered in a packed courtroom on Thursday noon, Judge Gauns further directed the accused to surrender his passport to the court and to swear an affidavit if he does not possess a passport.
The accused also was directed not to tamper with the evidence nor induce the witnesses in connection with the case, and to report to the Economic Offences Cell (EOC) for the purpose of investigations twice a week, on Tuesday and Friday, in the morning session till the filing of the supplementary chargesheet.
Raikar (43), who was standing in the accused box along with wife and mother when the Judge pronounced the order in his bail application, was later found seated inside the courtroom for well around half an hour till the beleaguered depositors left the courtroom, after which Margao police arrived on the scene and escorted him to the waiting vehicle outside on way to judicial custody. On June 20, EOC had filed a 742-page chargesheet against Raikar, his mother Rekha and wife Nilima, who are the other two directors of the company under Section 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
His mother and wife, who were also arrested in the case, were earlier released on bail.
The Economic Offences Cell had arrested the accused on grounds that he had allegedly cheated investors/depositors for total maturity amounting to a whopping Rs 56 crore.
Meanwhile, EOC Investigating Officer, PI Shivram Vaingankar and Public Prosecutor V G Costa told the media that the question of challenging the order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate granting bail to the accused will be decided after laying hands on the court order.
“We have applied for the court order and the decision whether to challenge the order before the higher court or not will be decided after studying the order,” PI Vaingankar said.
Around 101 witnesses have been listed in the chargesheet filed in the sensational cheating case which came to earlier this year. The documents seized by EOC after raiding Raikar’s residence and offices have also been also attached.
Raikar was arrested by EOC on April 22 earlier this year after an offence was registered on April 15 upon receiving over 500 complaints from investors alleging that Raikar duped them of over `55 crore through post-dated cheques in an illegal fixed deposit scheme. This amount, however, is the maturity amount assured to the investors and the police have yet to ascertain the principal amount.
Livid depositors slam govt, mull challenging order
the goan I network
MARGAO
Beleaguered Kamakshi Forex depositors, who turned up in large numbers in the court premises to know the fate of the accused, expressed shock and surprise that the accused has been enlarged on a bail of `5 lakh, and disclosed plans to challenge the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s order in the higher court.
The depositors slammed the government for the shoddy investigations in the case, demanding to know why the accused, Nilesh Raikar, was not denied bail like Subrata Roy in the Sahara scam.
“The government appears more interested in investigating the alleged `2 crore GCA scam and has no time to investigate the `50 crore Kamakshi Forex scam. The government did absolutely nothing to take the investigations to the logical conclusion when it involved the hard eared money of hundreds of Goan depositors,” asserted Cruz Cardozo after the Chief Judicial Magistrate granted bail to Raikar.
He said the GCA and JICA scams appeared to be the priority list of the BJP-led government, adding “the government’s apathy makes the depositors wonder whether someone in the government also had a vested interest in the scam”. Depositors failed to understand why the accused was not asked to deposit at least 50 per cent of the principal amount pegged at `20 crore when the EOC had placed the amount on record of the court at the last date of hearing.
I will meet depositors soon: Raikar
MARGAO: Kamakshi Forex owner Nilesh Raikar has said that he would soon have a meeting with the beleaguered depositors after he comes out of jail to find a way and discuss the issue threadbare.
When The Goan asked him how he intends to return the hard earned money of the depositors since the court has ordered his release from bail, Nilesh said that he would immediately have a meeting with the depositors once he gets out of jail after furnishing the bail and the sureties.
“Most probably, I intend to hold a meeting with the depositors during the weekend to find out how to go about the issue,” he said, before being escorted by the police from the court premises back to judicial custody.
After the Chief Judicial Magistrate pronounced her order on his bail, a couple of depositors sat besides him in court room, apparently seeking to know how he intends going about returning their huge deposits. e also told the depositors that he is ready to meet them at the earliest after his release from bail.
