By IANS,
Panaji : The Congress party’s student wing Friday demanded a federal probe into Goa’s drug nexus, two days after local newspapers, quoting the Israeli media, published reports of state Home Minister and senior Congressman Ravi Naik’s son’s alleged links to the drug trade.
In a related development, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) legislative wing met Governor S.S. Sidhu to demand the immediate sacking of Ravi Naik and instituting a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the drug scandal in which several politicians and policemen are allegedly involved.
Earlier, addressing a press conference in Panaji, state unit of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) president Sunil Kawathankar said the police had completely failed to investigate the drug nexus and “that whoever was involved in drug trade, irrespective if he was a Congress minister’s son” should be probed by a central agency.
“The image of Congress party and its government is getting maligned through the drug nexus case. Police have miserably failed to investigate the nexus. We demand a CBI inquiry or an investigation by the NIA (National Investigative Agency) into this matter,” Kawathankar said.
Claiming to have started a war on the drug mafia in Goa, Kawathankar said the NSUI had started a signature campaign demanding a central probe against those involved.
“We will hand over the signatures to our leaders, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, in Delhi during the forthcoming NSUI convention,” he said, demanding the arrest of Deputy Superintendent of Police Chandrakant Salgaonkar, a senior Crime Branch officer, who he accused of sabotaging the drug probe because politicians and their kin were involved.
Meanwhile, a delegation of BJP MLAs led by leader of opposition Manohar Parrikar met the governor Friday demanding the ouster of Naik.
“We want him out of the home ministry. He is not transferring the case to the CBI to protect his kin who are involved,” Parrikar told reporters during a press conference Friday.
Ravi Naik’s son Roy has been named by an Israeli newspaper as having links with Israeli drug dealer Yaniv Benaim alias Atala.