PANAJI
A sitting and a former panch member of the Salvador do Mundo village panchayat have been chargesheeted for allegedly demanding and accepting Rs 18 lakh bribe to grant a construction licence, in a case registered in 2023.
Krishnakant Chodankar, a serving panch member, and Bhagwant Naik, former panch member and husband of a current panch member, have been booked under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code.
According to the complaint filed by Sunil Desai on August 29, 2023, Chodankar had allegedly ‘taken undue advantage as Panch member’ and threatened to reject an application for a construction licence in Salvador do Mundo village unless a bribe was paid.
In the chargesheet filed before the Principal District & Special Judge, the Porvorim police stated that they found that the accused had allegedly obtained a bribe of Rs 18 lakh from the complainant. The investigation further revealed the involvement of more accused persons in the alleged offence, following which Naik was also arraigned in the case.
A significant part of the prosecution's case is based on audio and video recordings allegedly produced by the complainant. The chargesheet stated that the conversations captured in the clips purportedly showed a person “clearly demanding a bribe amount of Rs 18 lakhs” and discussing receipt of a lesser amount.
The investigation team said transcripts of the recordings were prepared and voice samples of both the complainant and Chodankar were collected and sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh, for examination.
The forensic report cited in the chargesheet stated that the questioned voice recordings matched the known voice samples of Sunil Desai and Krishnakant Chodankar.
Police also examined a scooter allegedly seen in one of the video recordings and found that it was registered in the name of Naik.
The chargesheet further noted that the construction project under consideration does not come under the ward represented by the first accused, Chodankar, raising questions over his alleged involvement in the processing of the licence application.
