MARGAO
A little over 16 years after he had spilled the beans in the circulation of fake cricket tickets of the sensational 2001 India-Australia ODI at the Nehru stadium, Fatorda, Congress leader Girish Chodankar has been summoned by the local magistrate to depose before the court in the matter.
Summons have been issued to Chodankar to appear and depose before the court on September 21. Doubts are raised whether Chodankar will make it to the court on Thursday since he is out of station. When The Goan contacted Chodankar on Tuesday, he pointed out that he may not make it to the court on Thursday since he is away in Gujarat attending the Congress party candidate screening committee meeting.
"I am already in Gujarat to attend the screening committee meeting. Let us see,"
he said.
Sources in the prosecution told The Goan that Chodankar is one of the 250 witnesses cited by the Margao police in connection with the sensational case. "We wanted to call Chodankar for examination in the case in the past, but the intervening elections made us to think twice since the witness was busy in the election process," sources in the prosecution informed.
The prosecution has so far examined around 52 witnesses in support of its case, and calling Chodankar to depose before the court is part of an ongoing exercise, sources said. A glance at Chodankar's statement recorded by the Margao police stated that the former Youth Congress president had on March 31, 2001 (six days before the India-Australia ODI) revealed that tickets in the denomination of Rs 100 and Rs 200 will not be available for sale and that the same would be diverted for black marketing.
Chodankar had appeared before the Margao police on April 4 evening, two days prior to the match, along with other Congress office bearers and submitted a petition suspecting criminal conspiracy, cheating,
misappropriation and breach of trust.
Chodankar said he had strong suspicion that duplicate tickets will be printed and expected the police to raid the ticket sellers and the GCA office, which was unfortunately
not done.
A little over 16 years after he had spilled the beans in the circulation of fake cricket tickets of the sensational 2001 India-Australia ODI at the Nehru stadium, Fatorda, Congress leader Girish Chodankar has been summoned by the local magistrate to depose before the court in the matter.
Summons have been issued to Chodankar to appear and depose before the court on September 21. Doubts are raised whether Chodankar will make it to the court on Thursday since he is out of station. When The Goan contacted Chodankar on Tuesday, he pointed out that he may not make it to the court on Thursday since he is away in Gujarat attending the Congress party candidate screening committee meeting.
"I am already in Gujarat to attend the screening committee meeting. Let us see,"
he said.
Sources in the prosecution told The Goan that Chodankar is one of the 250 witnesses cited by the Margao police in connection with the sensational case. "We wanted to call Chodankar for examination in the case in the past, but the intervening elections made us to think twice since the witness was busy in the election process," sources in the prosecution informed.
The prosecution has so far examined around 52 witnesses in support of its case, and calling Chodankar to depose before the court is part of an ongoing exercise, sources said. A glance at Chodankar's statement recorded by the Margao police stated that the former Youth Congress president had on March 31, 2001 (six days before the India-Australia ODI) revealed that tickets in the denomination of Rs 100 and Rs 200 will not be available for sale and that the same would be diverted for black marketing.
Chodankar had appeared before the Margao police on April 4 evening, two days prior to the match, along with other Congress office bearers and submitted a petition suspecting criminal conspiracy, cheating,
misappropriation and breach of trust.
Chodankar said he had strong suspicion that duplicate tickets will be printed and expected the police to raid the ticket sellers and the GCA office, which was unfortunately
not done.
