Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday said that a decision on handing over the ₹35,000-crore illegal mining scam, in which former chief minister Digambar Kamat is under scanner, to the CBI will be taken only after the SIT submits its investigation report.
Kamat who held the mining portfolio is being investigated by the Crime Branch along with several officials from the mines and geology department and mining firms in connection with illegal mining in the State between 2005-2012.
“There are many complex issues in the mining [scam case]. So we are going to do it. Let the Special Investigation Team (SIT) which is probing the illegal mining scam give me the report.,” Mr. Parrikar said. Mr. Parrikar was Chief Minister when the inquiry committee headed by Justice M.B. Shah submitted its report on the scam to the Centre. Following public outcry and protests, Mr. Parrikar ordered a probe by a SIT of Goa Police in 2013.
The Opposition has, however, been critical over the delay in the probe. It has accused the government of selectively using the SIT probe to corner leaders like Kamat. Top bureaucrats in the State mining ministry, politicians, several mining companies and traders in the State are facing investigation. An apex court appointed Central Empowered Committee and State Legislative Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee had also confirmed illegal mining in the State.
