In a setback to the Congress in Goa, the State Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) booked leader of Opposition and party MlA Chandrakant alias Babu Kavlekar for possessing disproportionate immovable assets worth Rs 4.78 crore in Kerala and also filed an FIR against his wife Savitri, also a Congress leader, for abetment.
The Congress has however called the raids as political in nature, intended to badger its party MlAs to join the ranks of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition Government.
Earlier on Saturday, ACB officials also raided the residence of the Congress leader duo at Quepem village, Kavlekar’s MlA office and a commercial office premises owned by them in Margao town, both located in the South Goa district.
Addressing a Press conference in Panaji, Superintendent of Police (ACB) Bosco George said that a FIR had been registered against the duo, following which raids were conducted on Saturday.
“The FIR has been registered against Kavlekar under sections under sections 13(ii) read with 13 (1) (e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, while his wife Savitri has been also been booked for abetting the crime,” George said.
Savitri contested the February 2017 elections from the Sanguem assembly constituency on a Congress tickets, losing narrowly to an Independent candidate.
“The raids were conducted on Saturday morning in connection with the disproportionate assets case where 14 properties worth crores of rupees were purchased in the State of Kerala,” George also said.
The official also said that the Congress MlA and his wife had gathered disproportionate asserts worth Rs 4.78 crore, which is around 59.21 per cent above their known source of income.
George also said that during questioning Kavlekar had said that he had bought the properties through an unsecured loan of around Rs 5 crore from Mumbai-based companies.
“He has said that he has got Rs 5.50 crore as an unsecured loan from Mumbai-based companies. We believe these are shell companies in order to acquire the assets,” George said, adding that the ACB had given adequate opportunities to Kavlekar and his wife to explain the accumulation of assets.
“He was called and questioned and he has not been able to give us a satisfactory reply,” George said.
When asked to comment on the delay in registration of FIR, considering that the probe began way back in 2013, George said that there were difficulties which the ACB had to overcome in order to file the FIR.
“Many of the property documents were registered in a language (Malayalam) which we did not understand. We had to engage an approved translator from Kerala. We had to get his income tax returns and documents from other banks. We had to put it before a chartered accountant to satisfy ourselves before filing the FIR,” George said, ruling out the arrest of the duo for now.
Kavelkar, when contacted however said, that he was innocent and that the raids were unwarranted.
“I have been co-operating with the ACB. This is not the first raid, but a fourth. I have done nothing wrong. I know that,” Kavlekar said.
State Congress president Shantaram Naik was more vicious in his criticism of the ACB action.
“This raid and FIR has nothing to do with any case. This action by the ACB is political in nature. This Government fears it might come into a minority soon and therefore have been trying to use police action to threaten and poach Congress MlAs into joining the BJP Government’s fold,” Naik told The Pioneer.
Naik also questioned the police delay in registration of the FIR, especially since the probe began in 2013.
“The disproportionate case goes back so many years. Any investigation does not take so long. The timing and intent of the raids is condemnable,” Naik added.