Rotomac offices in Goa come under police lens

Goa police on Wednesday visited the Vasco offices of Rotomac Global Pvt Ltd, after the recent arrests of 18 people for their alleged involvement in illegal mining in Satari, North Goa.

Inspector of Valpoi police station S Shirodkar  told Deccan Herald that the staff of Rotomac Global offices have been questioned. There was no prima facie evidence to establish the company’s link with illegal mining, but investigations are on, Shirodkar said.

Meanwhile, the company’s directors on Wednesday issued a public notice denying  any involvement in illegal mining. “It has come to our notice that some unidentified/unauthorised persons are carrying out illegal activities in the name of Ms Rotomac Global Pvt Ltd for their own means and to tarnish our image,” the company said.

Rotomac, the Kanpur-based ballpen manufacturer, has large interests in iron ore trading in Goa. It set up base here to buy and export ore in 2009, according to the state’s mines department.

Sources in the mines department said the stacking yard at Cotombi, Bicholim, where the illegally extracted ore was found by the police on Saturday, had been used by Rotomac. But company officials told the government they stopped using the yard in 2010.

Congress leader Pratapsingh Rane also said the government needed to find out which company was buying the illegal ore. The mines department said it was conducting a parallel inquiry into the case.