Cash-for-jobs scam: Govt will try to recover money, repay victims, says Goa CM

Panaji: Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday said that people involved in the cash-for-government jobs scam will be arrested, and the government will attempt to repay the victims by seizing the properties of the accused persons.

The chief minister's statement came on a day when a woman worker of the BJP was arrested in connection with the scam, and the party clarified that it would dissociate itself from any member of the party found to be involved in the fraud.

On Tuesday, the Ponda police arrested Shruti Prabhugaonkar, a woman worker of the saffron party, for allegedly duping people under the pretext of providing government jobs, an official said.

The Goa police have so far arrested 18 people in connection with the scam.

Sawant appealed to people to come forward and lodge their complaints so that all the accused were put behind bars.

"Let them go to jail. We will seize their properties and ensure the money they took from the victims is returned," he said.

Asked about the woman BJP worker arrested in the scam, Sawant said police are doing their job right, which is why the accused are being arrested irrespective of their party affiliations.

He said there are five lakh BJP members in Goa, and he cannot vouch for each one of them.

Talking to reporters earlier, former South Goa MP and general secretary of the BJP's Goa unit Narendra Sawaikar said people should lodge their complaints, even if a BJP worker or sympathiser is involved.

"No one will be spared. We will dissociate with BJP workers who are found to be involved in such a scam," he said.

Sawaikar said the Sawant-led government has adopted a transparent approach in recruitment to government jobs, and the State Staff Selection Commission was formed to ensure that candidates are selected on merit.

Asked about some BJP workers booked by the Goa police in the scam, Sawaikar said the police were given a free hand to investigate.

The party has appealed to the state government to conduct an inquiry and come to a logical conclusion about the scam, he said.

Sawaikar's statement to the media came hours after AAP Goa President Amit Palekar alleged the involvement of BJP workers in the job scam.

Claiming that senior BJP leaders were involved in the scam, Palekar had demanded that a judicial commission be constituted to probe into it.