Goa government on Monday contended before the Goa Bench of Bombay High Court in Panaji that the lower court erred in granting pre-arrest bail to former chief minister Digambar Kamat in the Louis Berger bribery case.
“On one hand, the judge agrees that there is prima facie evidence against him and on the other hand he gives Kamat the benefit of doubt under the Code of Criminal Procedure,” said public prosecutor S.R. Rivonkar, arguing before Justice C.V. Bhadang.
The special judge did not go through the entire record of the case, Mr. Rivonkar argued.
The lower court had said in its order that the investigating officer did not record the reasons as to why Kamat’s arrest was necessary.
The Crime Branch of Goa police filed the charge sheet in the case on September 28, naming former PWD minister Churchill Alemao, former project director of Japan International Cooperation Agency Anand Wachasunder, former Louis Berger officials James McClung and Satyakam Mohanty, alleged hawala dealer Raichand Soni and local politician Arthur D’Silva as accused. It named Kamat as a suspect.
