Panaji, March 2 (IANS): Goa Police has told a court that it was conducting a "preliminary inquiry" into a complaint by a lawyer activist against Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, accusing him of allegedly causing loss of over Rs.5 crore to the exchequer when he was the chief minister.

In response to a notice from the Panaji judicial magistrate first class, police inspector Rajendra Prabhudessai, in-charge of the Panaji police station, said in a written statement that the complaint filed by petitioner Aires Rodrigues "is under preliminary inquiry".

The police official's reply was submitted to the court on February 27. A copy of this is available with IANS.

Rodrigues approached the court seeking the registration of a first information report, after police reportedly failed to register his FIR in which Parrikar was accused of cheating the government exchequer along with a real estate promoter, whose premises was rented by the government at exorbitant rates.

The premises though rented by the Goa government was eventually not utilised, the petitioner claimed.

In the initial complaint filed on February 6 with police in Panaji, Rodrigues also claimed that the premises was rented at over Rs.5.5 crore and without following proper procedures, which involves obtaining of a rent rate reasonability certificate from the state government's Public Works Department.