Goa AAP candidate Elvis Gomes summoned for probe in housing scam case

Gomes and former minister Nilkanth Halarnkar were allegedly involved in a land scam in South Goa

A few days after he was nominated as the Aam Aadmi Party's chief ministerial candidate in Goa, former bureaucrat Elvis Gomes has been issued summons by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of the Goa Police in connection with a housing scam case.

Gomes, along with Nilkanth Halarnkar, a former minister for housing in the erstwhile Congress-NCP alliance government, have both been summoned to report before the investigating officer on December 26, a senior ACB official told IANS on Friday.

"They have been asked to report before the ACB on December 26," a senior police official said on the condition of anonymity.

Gomes and Halarnkar were booked under Sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) in February this year, while Gomes was still a serving bureaucrat.

The duo have been accused of scrapping official acquisition procedure for a chunk of land measuring 30,256 sq metres in South Goa's Margao without following procedure, thereby, giving the opportunity for vested interests to purchase the land subsequently.

During his visit to Goa last week, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP co-convener Arvind Kejriwal had described Gomes as an honest officer and nominated him as the party's chief ministerial candidate in the state, which will go to polls early next year.

Gomes has in the past called the accusation his "political victimisation" and has said that he has done no illegality.

Currently the President of the Goa Football Association, Gomes is expected to issue a formal statement later on Friday.