From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The upmarket Silly Souls Cafe and Bar, allegedly run by the family of Union Minister Smriti Irani at Bhouta Vaddo in Assagao village on sprawling 1200 sq metre plush premises, was on Monday issued a show-cause notice for allegedly obtaining liquor licences illegally.
Complainant activist advocate Aires Rodrigues, who exposed the licence fraud through a RTI (Right to Information) has been asked by Excise Commissioner Narayan M Gad to be present at the hearing fixed on July 29.
He had on Wednesday filed a written complaint, demanding a thorough inquiry into this mega fraud orchestrated by Smriti Irani’s family in conjunction with Excise officials and the local Assagao Panchayat.
The documents obtained by him through RTI from the Excise Department reveal that Goa’s excise rules allow the bar licence only to an existing restaurant, but shockingly the department on February 18, 2021 issued the licences for retail sale of foreign liquor, Indian made foreign liquor and country liquor (Feni) from the outlet.
The licences were issued in the name of one Anthony Dgama of Mumbai having the Aadhar card issued to him on December 30, 2020. Dgama died on May 17, 2021 as per the death certificate obtained by Advocate Rodrigues from the Mumbai municipal corporation. Shockingly, the excise office at Mapusa renewed the licences in his name on June 29, 2022. It means Smriti Irani’s family running the business in the name of a dead man!
