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Home Minister Ravi Naik has directed that the Rs 4, 33, 200 expenditure
incurred by the Goa Government on the repair of the former IGP Mr. K.D
Singh’s official vehicle not be recovered from Mr. K.D Singh.
This has been revealed in the information furnished by the Home Department
under the Right to Information Act. The file notings shockingly reveals that
the Home Minister’s decision was not sent as required for the finance
department’s concurrence despite there being financial implication on the
State exchequer as was observed by Special Secretary Home Mr.Rajeev Verma.
It may be recalled that on 4th December 2009 Siddharth Singh, the former
IGP’s son was driving his father’s official vehicle Toyota Innova
GA-07-G-0063 along with his friends which included Power Minister Alexio
Sequeira’s son to a night club at Vasco when he crashed the vehicle while
also damaging two electricity poles.
Interestingly while the former IGP has been left scot free the Home Minister
has ordered action against the former IGP’s official driver Mr. Mahesh
Sharma despite the driver having categorically stated that though he was on
duty the keys of the vehicle were with Mr. K.D Singh.
The file notings also reveal that Home Minister Ravi Naik overruled Special
Secretary Home Mr. Rajeev Verma who had strongly proposed that the
Government recover the Rs 4, 33,200 from Mr. K.D Singh for he had the direct
responsibility for the custody and use of the official vehicle.
The file notings also reveal that the former IGP in his representation to
Home Minister Mr. Ravi Naik on 11th December 2009 had submitted that he was
a former Army officer and had suffered bullet injury in the 1971 Indo - Pak
war. He had further stated that before being posted in Goa he had done hard
postings in Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram for 15 years while having a clean
record of integrity.
By another letter dated 12th July 2011 Mr. K.D Singh submitted that he was
ready to pay for the repairs of the vehicle if the criminal case against his
son is dropped. This conditional offer was vehemently turned down by Special
Secretary Home Mr. Rajeev Verma while ruling that the money be recovered
from the former IGP.
While the government has now decided not to recover from the former IGP the
expenses incurred on the repair of the vehicle, the Goa Police have also not
charge sheeted the former IGP’s son Mr. Sidharth Singh in the accident case.
The Director of Prosecution Mrs. Shobha Dhumaskar in her legal opinion given
on 22nd February last year had opined that the former IGP’s son should not
be charge sheeted in the accident case and that the case be closed as it
would be difficult to prove the case in Court.
The Government’s decision comes despite the categorical statement by Chief
Secretary Mr. Sanjay Srivastava at a press briefing on 14th December last
year, that the expenses incurred on repairs of the police vehicle would be
recovered from the former IGP and that his son would be prosecuted in the
accident case in accordance with law
For the last two years there has been a just demand that the expenditure
incurred on the repair of the vehicle be recovered from former IGP
Mr.K.D.Singh and that the former IGP’s son be also prosecuted in accordance
with law. The intervention of the High Court needs to be sought in this case
which smacks of gross abuse of power.
Aires Rodrigues
T1 - B30, Ribandar Retreat
Ribandar - Goa - 403006
Mobile: 9822684372
