Land scam: AAP Goa CM candidate Elvis Gomes summoned by Anti-Corruption Bureau

Elvis Gomes, AAP's Chief Ministerial face for Goa elections, has been summoned by the Anti- Corruption Bureau in connection with a land scam. "Gomes alongwith former minister Nilkant Halarnkar has been asked to remain present before investigating officer on Monday," a senior official said here. ACB has booked Gomes and Halarnkar in connection with a scam involving 30,000 square metres of land in Margao town which allegedly took place between 2007-2011. 

BJP-led state government filed a complaint against them in June this year. Gomes, who was managing director of Goa Housing Board, and Halarnkar who was its chairman, allegedly acquired land, changed its `zoning' (reservation) to residential which would have increased its market value, and later gave it back to the owner.

The board had acquired the land for building residential units and allegedly got its zoning changed from `orchard' to `settlement'. Gomes had denied his involvement in the scam. On December 19, AAP's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal announced Gomes as the party's Chief Ministerial candidate in Goa for next year's polls. Gomes would be contesting from Cuncolim in South Goa.