Recover money spent on impostor UP Minister: Goa Congress

The Congress in Goa on Saturday demanded that every penny from the state treasury spent on facilitating the stay of impostor Uttar Pradesh Minister Sanjay Singh, should be recovered from him.

Addressing a press conference in Panaji, state Congress Mahila Morcha president Pratima Coutinho also said, that a verification mechanism should be put in place by the state protocol department to cross-check the credentials of state guests in the future.

"The Goa government should recover every penny spent on Sanjay Singh, who posed as a Co-operatives minister of the Uttar Pradesh government and spent 12-days in Goa on state cost," Coutinho told reporters.

Singh and his 'entourage' of four persons were arrested earlier this week, at the end of their 12-day stay after government officials escorting them found their behaviour suspicious.

"At least the Protocol Department should verify credentials of people visiting Goa as state guests, before they arrive," Coutinho also said.

Singh was put up at a state guest house, was accorded a fleet of vehicles as well as police escorts, after he introduced himself as a UP Minister on a study tour in Goa, through the festive week of Christmas and New year.

He was even invited as a guest to a state government function in South Goa. According to officials of the Crime Branch of the Goa Police, Singh had posed as a Minister in order to enjoy a cheap holiday in Goa.
IANS