Team Herald
PANJIM: Even as the cash-for-jobs scam throws up more names with links to the BJP government, the police top brass on Saturday held a press conference where they tried to please their masters by saying that no political connections had come to light in the investigation so far.
The press conference brought howls of protest from the Opposition, which accused the police of being hand-in-glove with the ruling BJP government in trying to play down the impact of the scam on Goan society. Calling it a ‘scripted’ press meet, Amit Palekar, the president of AAP Goa asked if the senior police officers had lost their ‘spine and independence’, reminding that they were ‘answerable to Goans, not your political bosses’.
Political commentator Trajano D’Mello said that a retired Supreme Court judge should probe the scam from 2012, when the BJP came to power. Also those who gave money to get government jobs should also be investigated. “So far, it has only emerged that some people had cheated some others. There is no corruption angle because nobody has actually been found to have paid the money and got a job. I am shouting from rooftops that a judicial inquiry should find out if jobs were given on merits or based on other considerations. Then only can charges of the Prevention of Corruption Act be applied.”
The police, however, tried to downplay the mounting evidence piling that connects Jobsgate with the ruling BJP. “Till now, no political connection has come to light. We are encouraging people to come forward and to give their complaints,” said South Goa SP Sunita Sawant. The press conference also saw North Goa SP Akshat Kaushal and state DGP Alok Kumar speak on the ongoing investigation.
“We are registering complaints and there is no interference. Senior officers at the rank of DIG and IGP are overseeing all the cases,” said Kumar, adding that there was no need for a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case currently.
According to Sawant, “More than 50 people have been duped in South Goa. In some cases, the fraudsters returned the money when they were confronted.” Kaushal said that some of the accused are involved in cheating the victims from across the State and in one case, a fraudster promised a job to a victim across the border in Karwar.
The officers said that in most of the cases, the accused and the job seekers had come into contact through word of mouth, where the scammers said that they had influential contacts within the government to secure jobs. Most of the money the victims paid was in cash and police have directed banks to freeze the accounts linked to the accused and their associates.
A total of 29 cases related to the cash-for-jobs scam have been lodged so far and 33 arrests have taken place. Of the 29 cases, 17 FIRs were in North Goa and 12 in South Goa district. Around 166 grams of gold, two mini-buses, 12 four-wheelers and four two-wheelers have been confiscated from the accused so far. According to Sawant, the total money defrauded by the accused has crossed Rs 5 crore.