Panaji (Goa): Demanding a probe against Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte in a bribery case has landed Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar in soup. The duo are at loggerheads over the arrest of North additional collector Sabaji Shetye, who was caught red handed accepting first installment of Rs 1.50 lakh bribe on Tuesday.

Kavlekar demanded that Khaunte’s alleged role in the graft charges should be probed. “He may not be involved but there is a need for an investigation,” he had said responding to a media question whether Khaunte should be probed considering the officer is attached with the revenue department.

The Opposition leader had hesitantly replied to the question but this has attracted the anger of the minister, who has been exposing scams since his first tenure as MLA in 2012.

“While pointing fingers, he (kavlekar) should know where it is pointing at. He should be the last person to speak about scams and bribery. He is himself tangled in land scam when he was the Chairman of Goa Industrial Development Corporation..Such people should make responsible statements,” the minister said.

His outburst did not end here as he announced approaching Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to dig out Kavlakr’s dark past as GIDC Chairman. “I will write to CM to inquiry into scams during Kavlekar’s term as GIDC Chairman. Let him (kavlekar) be answerable to all. The scams that we have been talking about for last 10-15 years should be exposed and checked on the loss of revenue, shortage of land, etc,” he said.

The minister declared about the soon-to-be-implemented Time Bound Delivery Services Act in the Revenue Department that would curtail the corruption in the departments. In the case of Shetye, Khaunte has sought for a report from the North Collector Nila Mohanan.

Team TNV