DGP rules out SIMI, Naxal activities in Goa, vigil on

Panaji, Jul 5 (UNI) Goa Director General of Police B S Brar today categorically ruled out activities of either the banned Maoist organisations or the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in the state.

Talking to mediapersons in presence of Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and Home Minister Ravi S Naik, the DGP said police, however, continued to keep ''vigil'' on suspected movements of the outlawed organisations as a precautionary measure.

The DGP also denied reports that the Centre had directed the state to submit a report on the activities of the SIMI as reported in a section of media in the state recently. Opposition BJP leader Manohar Parrikar had brought this to the notice of the government recently, while chairing the Ad Hoc Committee on Home.

The Chief Minister said police had constituted special intelligence teams to probe the spate of defacement of statues and desecration of remote temples reported in the last two years, so that the guilty be booked.

About 10 cases of defacement, including Mahavir statue in a wildlife sanctuary in the South, had been reported during the last two years causing panic among the people.

''I have directed the police to find out the root cause of these incidents,'' he said. The angle of vandalism by treasure hunters like in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka would also be looked into.

Mr Kamat also urged the people not to be ''misled'' by rumours, in communally sensitive areas such as Margao and other places and turn emotional.

The Chief Minister also appealed to the media to verify reports related to communal tension with the authorities, before they were published.

The police, Mr Kamat said, was instructed to deal firmly with the miscreants, who were found trying to fan communal hatred. The police had yet to identify these elements, he added.

Efforts to identify the consignees of 17 swords, which were seized from the backseat of a driver of an abandoned truck two days ago at Mongor Hill in Margao, were also underway, the Chief Minister said.

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