Congress MLA accuses his own government of shielding criminals

Panaji, May 21: Goa's senior Congress legislator Dayanand Narvekar on Friday, May 20 accused his own state government of shielding the criminals, who had assaulted a whistle-blower from neighbouring Penha-de-France village.

Narvekar, former law minister, said that people within the state government and police machinery were protecting the assaulters of Umesh Fadte, "who had exposed a land scam running in several crores, inviting the wrath of criminals," he said.

The congress legislator said that several village panchayat members are backing Fadte, who is right now recuperating in the hospital after sustaining fracture in the assault.

Narvekar, who met Director General of Police, Aditya Arya at police headquarters this evening, alleged, "The investigation in this case is not going in the right direction." But he said that Arya has assured to rectify the mistakes in the investigation.

The Congress legislator, who has been publicly criticising government, said that there are several scams in Serula communidade, a village level institution dealing with the land.

"Through his RTI applications, Fadte had obtained information about the frauds," Narvekar said.

Fadte, who is also panch member of Penha-de-France, had personally opposed "illegal" applications sent to panchayats to get various sanctions.

Narvekar said that people will take to the streets, if accused involved in the assault were not arrested within 15 days.

He claimed that names of two suspects have been given to the police and they should be interrogated thoroughly.

PTI