'Babus' netted, will jobs-for-cash probe knock on doors of political executive?

Photo Credits: The Goan

PANAJI
In late 2021, current Revenue Minister Atansio (Babush) Monserrate, while he was a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led government but not a minister then, had blown the whistle alleging corruption in the recruitment of junior engineers in the public works department (PWD) even alleging that the then Minister Deepak Pauskar had taken bribes from candidates.

Three years later in September this year, Monserrate himself came under a cloud when Leader of the Opposition, Yuri Alemao and Goa Forward Party (GFP) chief Vijai Sardesai alleged a scam in the recruitment of Lower Division Clerks (LDCs) in the South Goa Collectorate.

Although the process of hiring the LDCs for the South Goa Collectorate was handled by the Goa Staff Selection Commission (SSC), created specifically to lend some autonomy to the recruitment process and insulate it from interference, Monserrate was hard-pressed to fend off the allegations with Alemao and Sardesai even alleging that candidates had paid money to a "lady from Sanquelim" for the LDC posts.

A handful from among those who got through the written tests and were picked for the jobs, it later turned out, could not produce documents to prove their Educational qualification.

The trend of people approaching ministers through "common friends", political workers and 'agents' to manipulate recruitment processes and push their applications through to eventually land a job in government departments under their charge, although illegal, is accepted as a given in the current power-play of politics in Goa.

Another trend often witnessed is ministers and MLAs lobbying for their constituents to get jobs as has been the case in several recent recruitment processes where an overwhelming majority of the selected candidates hail from the constituency of the minister in-charge of the department.

It is one of the many strategies adopted by politicos to garner support in their local constituency, but often, whispers of money exchanging hands for these jobs spill into the open and controversy erupts, like in the present case where Pooja Naik has been arrested for accepting money for a promised job. Those who fail to get the job either approach the courts or the police and spill the beans.

In the case of Pooja Naik, Bicholim police have succeeded in establishing the veracity of the allegations and have also managed to identify officials she has links with through data and call records of her phone.

More cases, can of worms?

Simultaneous with the Pooja Naik case, her arrest, her getting bail from the JMFC's court and her subsequent re-arrest by the Bicholim police in another similar matter, the involvement in such cash-for-jobs modus operandi of other individuals, including an IRB police constable and a veterinary doctor from Curti in Ponda, has also come to light.

The case that has come to light is of a woman from Marcel, one Depashri Sawant Gauns, who allegedly took Rs 15 lakh from a newly wedded lady of Usgao, on the pretext of assuring her a teacher's job in a High School at Marcel. The job never materialised which prompted the lady and her husband to file the police complaint. Although Gauns is yet to be nabbed by the police, her accomplice, Sagar Naik who is reportedly an IRB constable, and a relative have been arrested.

In all, the entire job-for-cash scandal has now encompassed nine individuals, including two government officials, who have been arrested. One is a retired government officer, and another is currently still in service.

Police officials investigating the matter have indicated that more government servants could come into the ambit of the probe. Also, with the probe progressing, one government employee from Keri who had been called by Mardol police for questioning but went 'missing, has been found dead, suspected to have committed suicide.

Strict action against all: CM

With two government officials implicated in the Pooja Naik 'cash-for-jobs' case, the police investigation trail has got closer to the power centres in the government.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, however, said it is a case of "con artists" taking advantage of the desperation for a government job among the population. "They (government officers) will not go unpunished. Whoever is involved, action will be taken against all, whether they are government officials, media persons or political workers," Sawant added.

The chief minister pushed the onus onto the public saying they need to be vigilant even as he claimed that in one case a government position which had not even been advertised was promised.

The missing 'political' link?

With so many cases coming to light, the question that remains to be answered is: are the likes of Pooja Naik and the others acting on their own or is there a political link which seems to be missing in the current investigation of the cases?

Already two officers are entwined in the Pooja Naik case, who as admitted by Sawant, has spilled the beans of her ties with these officers. The trail therefore has reached closer to the political power centres.

Will this trail actually head towards the political executive? If it does, will the police go all the way investigating and prosecuting the rogue politicos, is a question which will remain unanswered.

There can be no smoke without fire and in the current job-for-cash scam revolving around the prime accused Pooja Naik, the investigation as of now has only got around the smoke and is yet to touch the fire.

The big question is whether the government is willing to let the probe progress beyond just the smoke and into the fire, potentially risking leaving its own hands burnt.