Without money trail, cops need circumstantial evidence to nail swindlers

Ponda: There have been 21 cases registered in the state so far in the cash-for-jobs scam. Ponda and Mardol police stations have registered four cases and arrested eight people. Barring just one case that involves a suspended IRB constable, they have no evidence—digital or otherwise—of the illicit monetary transactions. Experts say the police will have to rely on circumstantial evidence to build cases.

Goa has 12 talukas, and cash-for-jobs scam cases have been registered in Bicholim, Bardez, and Tiswadi talukas in North Goa, as well as in Ponda, Mormugao, and Canacona talukas in South Goa.

The police suspect that at least 184 people lost money within the jurisdiction of the Mardol and Ponda stations. In most of the cases, the payments were made in cash, and the victims did not seek any acknowledgement from the fraudsters. So, proving that they were cheated on will be a tall order. The amounts paid to secure a govt job range anywhere from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 35 lakh over multiple years.

Police have found bank transfer records only in Sagar Naik’s case—the IRB constable arrested in Aug—with complainant Trupti Prabhu from Usgao having provided the details of the transaction.

“The probe in other cases is based on lists—names of people who paid for govt jobs—received from Sandeep Parab, a WRD junior engineer, and Yogesh Kunkolienkar, a secondary school teacher, who were arrested earlier this week,” a source said.

Senior lawyer Nitin Sardessai as well as former public prosecutor Satyawan Raut Desai believe that when direct evidence is missing, investigating officers must bring circumstantial evidence on record to make the cases stand in court.

“After all, not every case is dependent on documents. There could be other evidence. The police will have to find collateral evidence to prove an offence,” Sardessai said.

Parab allegedly told the police that he collected money on behalf of Deepashree Gawas, another accused who was arrested last week. While he has given the police a list of 44 names of people from whom he took money, he has not presented any evidence to show that he paid the cash to Gawas.

A complaint, lodged on Thursday by Parab, also alleged that Gawas had duped 44 people—including Parab’s own daughter—of Rs 3.9 crore on the pretext of offering them govt jobs.

Raut Desai said that an investigating officer will have to strive hard to bring conversations between the accused and victim on record that will support the case.

After his arrest, Kunkolienkar accused Shruti Prabhugaonkar of taking money for jobs. He, in turn, provided a list with 20 names of those who paid for govt jobs. He claimed that the Rs 1.2 crore that he collected from them was given to Prabhugaonkar, who was arrested on Nov 12. Again, it is his word against hers. She has already denied having received any amount from Kunkolienkar.

While investigating Pooja Naik, the main accused in the case, registered at Mardol police station, a list with 120 names came to light. The list was allegedly found during a search at Naik’s accomplice Ajit Satarkar’s house. Satarkar was arrested last week. However, since the list has no mention of how much each victim paid, the trail ran cold.

Manjunath Desai, a retired police officer, said that in such cases, when there is no material evidence on record, the onus to prove the offences is on the investigation officer.



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