Cops interrogate former Goa CM Kamat in `35K cr mining scam

A Special Investigation Team of the Goa Police Crime Branch on Monday interrogated former Chief Minister and Congress MLA Digambar Kamat in connection with a Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining scam. Kamat who appeared before the SIT officials on Monday and was grilled for several hours, but refused to comment to the media after the questioning by the officials.

An SIT official informally told reporters that Kamat had been summoned to be questioned over some key decisions and file notings made by him during his tenure as Chief Minister from 2007-2012, when the mammoth scam is alleged to have occurred and illegal mining was at its peak.

“We had some clarifications to seek from the former Chief Minister about the decisions and his notings on files which were moving in the mines ministry,” the official said on condition of anonymity. Apart from holding several key portfolios, Kamat was also in-charge of the mines portfolio as Chief Minister.

Mining in Goa was stopped both by the state government, as well as the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests in 2012, following a Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining scam, which was unearthed in 2012 by the Justice MB Shah commission of inquiry appointed by the Union Mines Ministry.

All top mining companies were indicted in the illegal mining scam exposed by the Commission, which has also pointed out to a politician-bureaucrat-mining companies nexus.