By IANS,
Panaji: Goa Home Minister Ravi Naik Saturday insisted that his son Roy was not involved in the drug trade and accused former chief minister Manohar Parrikar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of sheltering the drug mafia.
Addressing a press conference here ahead of the winter session of the Goa legislative assembly, Naik also said that several BJP legislators were “sheltering” those involved in the drug trade in the state.
“There are many people named Roy in north Goa. I have enough evidence to show that one Roy Fernandes was in the drugs business with the blessings of then chief minister Manohar Parrikar and his MLAs when the BJP was in power,” Naik said.
The home minister, however, did not specifically identify Roy Fernandes, neither did he respond to questions on why he had not booked him, if he had evidence to prove the latter’s involvement in drug trade.
Lucky Farmhouse, a Swedish model and former girlfriend of an Israeli drug dealer, as well as mother of slain UK teenager Fiona Mackeown have both accused the home minister’s son Roy Naik of being a part of the drug mafia operating in Goa.
The opposition, several ruling legislators as well as civil society groups have demanded a CBI probe into the police-politician-drug mafia nexus in Goa in which they have alleged the involvement of Naik’s son.
While Naik claims that the opposition was raking up the issue to gain publicity and because some of their party leaders had been arrested by his ministry, he also said that the Congress legislators who were crying hoarse about the drug trade in Goa were “supporting drugs” by their actions.
“(The) BJP leaders are also frustrated over the action taken against their local leader Sandeep Chimulkar in a drugs case. He is in police custody since February 2010,” he said, adding that Chimulkar was involved in the drug trade along with a sitting legislator.
Reacting to recent interviews given by two Congress legislators Dayanand Narvekar (a former deputy chief minister) and Agnelo Fernandes, who claimed that police in Goa worked in cahoots with the drug mafia, Naik said: “Why don’t they come forward and complain? That means you are supporting drugs.”