ED team confined on Goa offshore casino, FIR against co director

Panaji: Cruise Casino Pride director Ashok Wadia, along with others, was booked on Friday by Goa police for allegedly confining Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers at an offshore casino in the Mandovi during a search in connection with a money laundering case.

Panaji police registered the first information report (FIR) under Sections 132 (assaulting or using criminal force against a public servant), 223 (disobeying orders issued by a public servant), 224 (threatening a public servant), 127 (confinement), 238 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) read with 3(5) (common intention) of the BNS 2023.

Besides Wadia, three other persons, including Gopal Naik, Arti Raja, and unidentified staff of Casino Pride, were booked in the case.

ED assistant director Poluri Chenna Kesava Rao initiated search proceedings under Section 17 of PMLA, 2002, at the Casino Pride situated at Casino Pride Cruise.

In his complaint, Rao said that search proceedings were initiated on Wednesday by the team of accompanying officers along with three witnesses, peacefully, without any harm, insult, or injury to the persons present in the premises, without disrupting the business operations of Casino Pride, and without hurting the communal or religious sentiments of the persons being searched. The entire proceedings were witnessed by the three independent witnesses.

“During the course of the search, certain incriminating material in the form of electronic devices, loose sheets, books, documents, and cash were found and kept under the custody of the investigation team,” the ED assistant director said.

“During the search proceedings on Thursday, Wadia, along with a person whose name was later revealed as Naik, entered the search premises without prior permission of the authorised officer,” Rao said.

The officer introduced himself and briefed Wadia on the ongoing search proceedings and showed him the search authorisation issued by the ED joint director, he said.

“However, Wadia refused to affix his signature by falsely alleging that the search authorisation was fake and started yelling and threatening in front of the customers and staff of Casino Pride Cruise. He also misbehaved with me and the officers accompanying me,” Rao said in his complaint before Goa police.

Rao said, “Naik started threatening us that he wouldn’t let us leave the premises easily and also from Goa and would physically harm all officers accompanying me. He also claimed that he had political connections in Goa and Delhi and nobody could touch him.”

“Subsequently, Wadia, Naik, along with staff of Casino Pride present there, forcibly evicted the officers from the room where the officers were carrying out search proceedings. They started misbehaving with the officers and tried to snatch the mobile phone of the officers after knowing that the officers were calling for assistance from higher authorities of ED and local law enforcement officials, and then forcibly herded me and the officers to a room on the casino and detained us there,” the ED assistant director said.

“Thereafter, he also violently forced the officers to return the electronic devices, which were collected by them for examination during search proceedings and indulged in the destruction of the evidence from the electronic devices,” Rao said.

“Then Wadia and Naik initially stopped the officers from attending to their mobile phones and later insisted they use their mobile phones on loudspeaker while the higher authorities were trying to contact the team of detained officers,” Rao said.

“Wadia and one lady staff of Casino Pride violently forced me to delete several electronic evidence collected during the search proceedings, which included two pen drives set aside for the purpose of search proceedings, one laptop from the premises which the officers were using for conducting search proceedings. They also warned the officers to give the electronic devices they had brought to delete any evidence from them,” Rao said.

“Apart from destroying the evidence collected during the search proceedings, Wadia also tore off my handwritten notes in the same room where he detained the officers. Also unaccounted cash of Rs 4.3 lakh, identified by this office and suspected to be sourced from proceeds of crime, which was kept for verification has been missing from the search premises,” Rao said.

“The conduct of Wadia, Naik and his staff led to the disruption of search proceedings under the provisions of PMLA, 2002. Wadia and Naik, through their actions, obstructed govt officials from discharging their lawful duty, threatened officers with violence, behaved inhumanely with them, and destroyed evidence,” Rao said in the complaint.


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