By IANS,
Panaji : Goa Home Minister Ravi Naik Monday said the police would probe the links of the state transport minister’s wife with a Hindu group blamed for an explosion that killed two of its members. The Congress has also asked the police to probe if Chief Minister Digambar Kamat was the intended target of the blast.
Addressing reporters at his residence, Naik said everyone involved with the Sanatan Sanstha was being investigated. The Goa transport minister is Ramkrishna alias Sudin Dhavalikar.
“We are probing everyone. We know that Jyoti Dhavalikar is part of the institution, although we do not know in what capacity. I have asked police to enquire,” Naik said.
Sudin Dhavalikar is a Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) legislator and part of the Congress-led coalition government. Sudin’s brother Deepak Dhavalikar is also an MGP legislator.
Addressing reporters in Margao Monday, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) spokesperson Ramakant Khalap said the police should get to the bottom of the case and not spare anyone, ‘however powerful’.
“We have also asked the police to probe if the chief minister was the intended target of the Margao blast by Sanatan Sanstha members,” Khalap, a former union minister of state for law, told reporters. Margao, a major town in South Goa, is also the home constituency of Chief Minister Kamat.
Calling the incident an eye opener for intelligence agencies, Khalap said: “Any lapses on part of the police need to be probed.”
State Public Works Department Minister Churchill Alemao has, meanwhile, demanded a ban on Sanatan Sanstha, if the organization was found involved in the Goa blast.
Speaking to reporters Monday afternoon, Alemao said: “If Sanatan (Sanstha) is found guilty, it should be banned. It should not be allowed to indulge in anti-social activity like this,” Alemao said. “If any politician is involved he should also be punished, so what if he is my cabinet colleague,” he added.
Two Sanatan Sanstha activists were killed when explosives they were ferrying on a two-wheeler exploded Friday evening on a street in Margao, a town in south Goa, 35 km from here.