PANAJI
Former Chief Minister and present Margao MLA Digambar Kamat on Monday secured ex-parte interim anticipatory bail from the District and Sessions Court, Panaji, in connection with the alleged Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining case of 2013.
The court has ordered that in the event of Kamat’s arrest, he shall be released upon furnishing a bail bond of Rs one lakh rupee. The matter
has been fixed for hearing on May 2. Kamat was later interrogated for around two-and-half hours at the crime branch office at Ribandar by the Special Investigation Team of Goa Police, which is probing the matter.
Speaking to the media Kamat stated, “I am fighting a battle. I have fought one and now I am fighting another.”
Kamat was issued fresh summons for Monday after he skipped the first summons.
Former Director of Mines and Geology Arvind Lolienkar and J B Bhingui along with another mines official have already been questioned by the SIT in connection with the case.
Based on a complaint from the mines department, the CB registered an FIR on August 19, 2013, against all those listed in the reports submitted by the Shah Commission, the Public Accounts Committee and the Supreme Court appointed Central Empowered Committee. The SIT was instituted in the last week of August 2013. Kamat, Lolienkar and four other accused were booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for conspiracy, mines and minerals development rules, Goa (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation, Storage of Minerals) Rules, 2004, mineral conservation and development rules and Prevention of Corruption Act.
