Panel may probe Goa tickets scam

Sandesh Prabhudesai

The Goa government is considering appointing an inquiry commission to probe the sale of bogus tickets for the concluding one-day cricket match of the India-Australia series at Goa earlier this month.

Police investigations into the scam, which came to light on April 6 after thousands of fans were denied entry into the Nehru stadium, Fatorda, because it was filled to its 27,300 capacity capacity well before the start of the deciding one-dayer, have established a criminal conspiracy between the Goa Cricket Association and the contractor who printed the tickets. It is believed that around 25,000 bogus tickets, worth around Rs 10 million, were sold for the match.

Six persons, including GCA treasurer Rama Shankardas, ticket contractor Chinmay Fallari and Eknath Naik, brother-in-law of GCA president and former Goa deputy Chief Minister Dayanand Narvekar, who are alleged to have conspired and sold bogus tickets have been arrested. The police also recovered cash of over Rs 450,000 from two flats belonging to Shankardas.

Police sources say that there is the likelihood of Narvekar also being arrested as his name figures in most of the 150 statements recorded so far.

Meanwhile, Narvekar has been granted interim bail for two more days, pending the hearing on his anticipatory bail application on April 20.

After rushing to Bombay last week under the pretext of his mother being hospitalised at the Jaslok hospital, Narvekar appeared before the police on Monday.

"The police can investigate only the criminal angle, but the inquiry will also go into the civil angle of it," says Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who will meet with the police, legal experts and the Advocate General to consider setting up an inquiry commission..

Pending a final decision, Parrikar said the inquiry may also deal with the whole functioning of the GCA.

"There are methods to inquire into the functioning of autonomous bodies like the GCA if they take the public for a ride," he said.

Police sources say they have arrived at the conclusion that more than one GCA official was involved in the racket. Besides printing and selling bogus tickets as also the conspiracy angle, they are also planning to charge the GCA under section 336 of the CrPC, which deals with the act of endangering the life of people.

Going beyond the permitted load-bearing factor of a seating capacity of 27,300, it has now come to light that around 52,000 tickets were sold (including the legal sale of 3,160 extra tickets).

The police are also interrogating BCCI executive secretary Sharad Diwadkar and have asked the board to immediately send its match observer K P Kajaria for interrogation.