Former Goa Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Digambar Kamat was on Monday granted ex-parte anticipatory bail by a trial court here in connection with the Rs.35,000 crore illegal mining scam case, which is being probed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Goa Police.
Mr. Kamat, who had been summoned by the SIT to appear before the investigating officer on Monday morning, was granted bail on a bond amount of Rs. one lakh. He later presented himself before the SIT team investigating the case.
“Mr. Kamat has been granted ex-parte bail. The next hearing has been fixed for May 2,” Advocate Parag Rao, his lawyer told presspersons outside the courtroom here on Monday.
A Congress-led coalition government in Goa headed by Mr. Kamat from 2007-12, was indicted by a Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice (Retd) P.B. Shah in the Rs. 35,000 crore illegal mining scam, along with top bureaucrats and officials of mining companies allegedly involved in the scam. In 2013, the State government then headed by the BJP Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, appointed an SIT to probe the scam.
Later, Mr. Kamat said that the illegal mining case was a “second battle” he was fighting. His reference was to the Louis Berger bribery scam charges he is facing in the State Crime Branch probe.
