PANAJI
The Goa Police Crime Branch has submitted a report before the Bombay High Court at Goa saying that a person by the name of Kiran Mohan Kandolkar, a resident of Xantarxet, Aldona, was booked under the Goa, Daman and Diu Public Gambling Act and that the case was chargesheeted and ended through paying a fine of ₹1,000 in 2002.
In another instance, Kiran Mohan Kandolkar was involved in a murder case but was acquitted in 1997.
The Crime Branch, however, said that there is no case under the Gambling Act filed against a person by the name of Kiran, a politician from Tivim.
The police also said that they couldn’t trace a person named ‘Budo’ alias Parekh who allegedly controlled the matka gambling in Panaji, as alleged by the complainant, much less verify if he was involved in it.
The report is being submitted to the High Court, after the High Court directed the Goa Police to register an FIR on the basis of a petition filed by Kashinath Shetye and a few others alleging that the Goa Police are turning a blind eye to the menace of matka gambling.
The Goa Police had booked a case against Goan politicians, ministers, police officials as well as press persons and more than 1,100 ‘agents’ and others for violating several sections of the Goa gambling Act for indulging in and protecting the ‘illegal’ matka gambling business.
Besides, “one politician named Kiran from Tivim” two local vernacular newspapers, no other persons have been named in the First Information Report filed by the Goa Police Crime Branch which is investigating the case.
