Dharmesh Saglani, 46-year-old Goa Congress strongman and CM Sawant’s bete noire

Among the four criminal cases that Saglani, 46, declared in his election affidavit, two offences were registered against him in January, days after the Congress fielded him from Sanquelim.

In connection with a complaint lodged against him on January 24, Saglani was arrested on Monday evening on various charges including extortion, wrongful confinement and threatening a Faridabad businessman in December 2021.

Saglani was in the spotlight when he gave CM Sawant a run for his money in the electoral battle in Sanquelim that proved to be a dead heat. The two leaders had also crossed swords in the 2017 Assembly polls, when Sawant had defeated Saglani with a margin of over 2,000 votes. But, the 2022 polls turned into a different ball game when the Congress challenger shrunk Sawant’s victory margin to just 666 votes. Apart from being the incumbent CM, Sawant was also the saffron party’s face in the election, but he had trailed in the initial rounds of counting of votes. He managed to squeeze past Saglani in the end, but the latter ensured that it was a close race.

The case in which Saglani was arrested was registered at the Agassaim police station on January 24, which was later transferred to the Goa Police’s Crime Branch. According to the complaint lodged by Ankit Jajodia, a 28-year-old businessman, who played poker at Goa’s offshore casinos, Saglani and several others had allegedly tried to extort Rs 50 lakh from him. He alleged that Saglani and other accused, which included Rajneesh Kumar, Shashank Singh, Manish Jain and three others who worked as bouncers, had illegally confined him to a house in Bambolim, threatened him and assaulted him. He charged that he was forcefully held captive for one hour in a room on the first-floor of the house. His complaint also stated that “Rajneesh caught hold of my neck and threatened to kill, then Dharmesh joined him and threatened to cut me into two halves, (while) bouncers were making sure that I do not run away.” He added that he was however released after an hour.

Saglani spent a night in police custody before being granted bail by a magistrate. He later told reporters outside the court, “Justice has prevailed. I trust in the law. I have cooperated with the police before and I will cooperate in the future. Let the people know the truth. People already know the truth. I don’t have to pronounce it.” Asked if the allegations against him were “politically motivated”, he said, “There is no need to say that.”

Saglani has been a councillor in the Sanquelim Municipal Council (SMC). In the Assembly polls, the Sanquelim contest became a high-stakes affair after the Congress nominated him as its candidate against the CM. This was evidenced when campaigning for Sawant Union Home Minister Amit Shah urged voters to ensure his hat-trick, while top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also sought to drum up support for his party in the constituency.

An ambitious leader of the grand old party, Saglani holds sway in the SMC on CM Sawant’s home turf. In the municipal polls held in six municipal councils and the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) on March 20, 2021, the BJP-backed candidates had scored major victories, sweeping the CCP and clinching five municipal councils. The only municipal council the ruling party lost was the SMC in which a Congress-backed panel emerged victorious. While municipal elections are not fought on the basis of the party symbols, the contests involve panels backed by rival political parties. The SMC polls had become a prestige battle between Sawant and Saglani, who had thrown their weights behind their respective panels.