Louis Berger case: Crime Branch to file chargesheet on September 28

Panaji: Goa Crime Branch will file the chargesheet in the Louis Berger bribery case on September 28, naming former minister Churchill Alemao and others as "accused", while ex-Goa chief minister Digambar Kamat's name will be added as an accused in the supplementary chargesheet.

The crime branch has been investigating the alleged bribery by the US-based Louis Berger company to win consultancy for sewerage pipeline and water augmentation project under Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funding.

"The first chargesheet would be filed on September 28. We will be charging former minister Churchill Alemao, former JICA Goa project head Anand Wachasunder and others in it," a senior Crime Branch official said today.

Crime branch has already arrested Alemao, former PWD minister and Wachasunder, who are currently lodged in jail.

A local court had granted anticipatory bail to Kamat, which has been challenged in the High Court.

"The supplementary chargesheet will have Kamat's name in it as an accused," the official said requesting anonymity.

The chargesheet will contain statements of seven witnesses and accused, which was made before the judicial magistrate under section 164 of the CrPC during the one and half month long investigation.

"It (chargesheet) will not carry all the investigation details though. The investigation team has decided to produce only basic information related to the probe in its first chargesheet while the supplementary chargesheet will be voluminous," he said.

Ex-Louis Berger officials Sanjay Jindal and Shiv Ram Prasad Malladi, MD of Shah Consultancy Prasanna Shah, Mukesh Bharati, JICA PIO Udaykumar Mandevalkar, and accused - former JICA project director Anand Wachasunder, former vice president of LB India Satyakam Mohanty, and alleged hawala operator Raichand Soni are among those whose statements were recorded under CrPC section 164.

Officials of the New Jersey-based Louis Berger, in a submission before a US court, had admitted paying bribe to an Indian 'minister' to win consultancy for the line laying project in Goa and Guwahati.

The Rs 1,031-crore project was approved when the Kamat government was in power, for augmenting water supply in south Goa and laying sewerage lines in the state's major cities.