Several cases still undetected; others closed
the goan I network
PANAJI
The economic offenses cell functioning under the Crime Branch and set up especially to probe cases related to economic offences, like financial frauds and financial cheating cases has been found to be extremely lax in
its performance.
As per details given in a written reply in the Legislative Assembly by Chief Minister Promod Sawant, of the 53 cases that had been registered with it, not a single accused has been convicted in the last five and half years.
From 2014 to June 2019, the EOC managed to complete investigations into just 14 cases and chargesheets were filed in the court. Twelve other cases were closed either due to lack of evidence or some other reason and one case was transferred to CBI. Investigations in around 26 cases are still pending with
the cell.
Out of the cases that were chargesheeted there are 11 cases which are still under trial and 4 accused have been discharged by the court in these cases.
There are, however, several cases that have been undetected by the EOC. In 2014, while 13 cases were registered with the cell, 6 cases were closed due to lack
of evidence.
In 2015 around 4 cases were closed due to lack of evidence while in 2016 one case was closed.
The number of cases being registered with this specialised cell have also been on a decline. In the 2016 around 16 cases were registered with the EOC but 2018 saw just 3 cases being registered with the specialised cell.
