Panaji, Nov 10 (PTI) Goa Minister Vishwajit Rane has said he will request the director general of police and the cyber crime cell to question Congress leader Amit Patkar about the allegations he made about the cash-for-government jobs scam.
Goa Congress chief Patkar has shown forged appointment and offer letters given to aspirants for jobs in the urban development, town and country planning and health departments, all of which are part of Rane's portfolio.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday, he had alleged that these were part of efforts to extort money from aspirants, and the offer and appointment letters had signatures of heads of departments (HoDs).
In a statement late on Saturday, Rane said DGP Alok Kumar and the cyber crime cell will investigate Patkar's allegations.
"This investigation should include questioning the GPCC president regarding the source of the documents and the origin of the call recording in question," he said.
The minister said he has already requested the cyber crime cell to conduct a detailed inquiry into the specifics of a call recording that Patkar played during the press conference about the scam.
"This appears to be part of a deliberate effort to damage my reputation and divert attention from the real issues surrounding job scam concerns in the state," he said.
"It is important to note that my departments have not issued regular job postings for the past two years, as job recruitment has been centralised within the state of Goa, removing any question of my departments independently, releasing regular job posts," he said.
He further said that Defamatory actions, including press conferences based on false claims, baseless allegations, and irresponsible comments, will not be tolerated.
Rane said the GPCC president must provide answers about the source of his information.
If he fails to substantiate his claims within a given timeframe, necessary legal action will be taken against him, he said.