BJP accuses Goa Chief Minister of shielding supporter

Panaji, Jan 23 (IANS) Goa's Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar Friday alleged that a close supporter of Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, arrested for storing weapons in his house after a riot in a South Goa town, has links with Bangladeshi extremists but the government was trying to bury the case.

Addressing a press conference here, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader alleged that the chief minister was trying to bury the case even when the accused man's links with Bangladeshi extremists became clear during interrogation by Intelligence Bureau officials.

'IB officials had interrogated the accused arrested for storing swords in his house in Margao. During interrogation, he had revealed his links with Bangladeshi extremists,' Parrikar said.

Parrikar alleged that the accused man had even travelled to West Bengal and led a team of Bangladeshi extremists to survey areas in Goa for setting up terror training camps.

Swords were seized from the communally sensitive and illegal slum of Moti Dongor, which is located in the chief minister's constituency of Margao, a few days after a riot between two communities there in June.

A controversy was sparked off when a CD circulated by the BJP showed several persons possessing swords, and partying with the chief minister and his wife in a guest house in Maharashtra.

'I had warned that the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was active in Goa. Even the Director General of Police is on record that terrorists had planned to target Goa,' Parrikar said.