Chief Minister Pramod Sawant seems to have achieved the impossible: lowering the dignity of his office to never-before-seen subterranean levels by first accepting — and now sheepishly returning — 31 laptops gifted by an alleged scamster. Yes, you read that right. Thirty-one. Not one. Not two. A whole classroom set.
On December 7, Vaibhav Thakar was arrested by LT Marg police in Maharashtra for allegedly cheating a jeweller of ₹2.8 crore while impersonating an officer from the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s Office. A minor detail: he had already been arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence earlier in a tidy little ₹200-crore gold trading case. A resume like that could only mean one thing — naturally, he must meet the Goa Chief Minister.
Which he did. In April. And gifted 31 laptops to Goa Police. Because, of course, nothing screams “trustworthy citizen” like an impressive history of arrests.
Now, after his December arrest, Goa Police HQ has instructed all stations to return those laptops. So let’s do the math: does that make the Chief Minister the primary recipient of this “generosity” and the police the secondary recipients of… well, whatever this was supposed to be?
It is astonishing — and frankly embarrassing — that the Chief Minister of a State can meet individuals without even the most basic background check from his office. And even worse, accept gifts to be distributed across government departments as if he were running a festive lucky draw.
Speaking of the laptops: did the CM’s office bother to verify how they were purchased? Any receipts? Any confirmation they weren’t procured through, say…the very activities Thakar has been alleged to engage in?
And let’s not forget the police department — under the CM’s control — now ordering the return of these laptops. This is the administrative equivalent of the police proudly “recovering” stolen goods after the thieves have already sold them at a discount.
Unfortunately, this is hardly the first time the Goa government — especially the CMO — has been taken for a royal ride. Flashback to 2020: the bidder chosen by the government to build the Dona Paula Convention Centre — DCR Solar — failed to cough up the ₹16.20-crore performance guarantee. When the High Court insisted, the bidder produced one. It was fake. Tailor-made tenders? Who would’ve guessed.
So should we believe the Chief Minister is so astonishingly gullible that his office and police force lack even the authority to verify who he meets? Or is he following instructions from the much-celebrated “double-engine sarkar” to welcome all visitors, no questions asked — except, of course, when the visitors are Goans or activists with real grievances? Those folks rarely get appointments.
Back to the laptops: what happens now? Will they gather dust in some evidence room? Will an FIR be filed to investigate how they were procured? Will the police run forensic tests to ensure these devices aren’t loaded with spyware or surveillance tools?
Whatever the outcome, one thing is painfully clear: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has managed to drag the dignity of his office to a spectacular low, courtesy of what can only be described as shockingly casual governance.
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