BY GT REPORTER
PANJIM: Top honchos of the Electricity department are under severe pressure from a powerful politician to withdraw consent given to the police to prosecute two of its employees involved in misappropriating revenue to the tune of Rs 55-odd lakhs.
Sources told GT that several senior engineers are being pressured to influence Chief Electrical Engineer, Nirmal Braganza to withdraw the written consent he has given for the prosecution of the two employees.
The two LDCs/Ledger Clerks attached to the Asst Engineer's office, sub-division III at Bambolim -- Mauricio D'Cunha and Alexander Rodrigues -- were found involved in misappropriating a whopping Rs 55.24-lakh, the energy charges collected from consumers. The duo between themselves siphoned off the money during the seven years between April of 1997 and August of 2004.
Agacaim police, who had launched a probe into the fraud in January 2005 after the then AE Thankappan Prakash filed the complaint, have wound up their investigations and are now in the process of filing the chargesheet in the relevant court.
Sources said, since both the accused are government servants, the law requires the police to first seek a formal 'sanction to prosecute' from their appointing authority, which in their case is the Chief Electrical Engineer.
On receiving a letter from the North Goa Superintendent of Police seeking the formal 'sanction to prosecute', Braganza passed an order granting it, in the first week of July this year.
No sooner this was done, the officials involved in the decision-making process pertaining to this case have come under direct pressure from the top politician, who is hell bent to ensure that the rogue employees are let off the hook, sources said.
He (the politician) has even asked that the 'sanction to prosecute' already issued by Braganza be withdrawn, the sources added.
