God CM Manohar Parrikar (File)
Following the arrest of a man allegedly involved in the desecration of religious symbols, which took place over the last fortnight in Goa, State Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday termed it as ‘a solo act’. Speaking further, the minister added that even after the arrest vigil would still continue in places of worship . The minister was quoted by news agency PTI as saying: “As of now it (series of desecration) appears to be a solo act. But we can’t totally rule out involvement of others… or it need not be a participatory involvement but support of different kind.”
Earlier in the day a 50-year-old man was arrested by the police in connection with the alleged desecration of holy crosses in South Goa district. As per a report in PTI, a senior police officer said that the accused, Francis Pereira, admitted that he ‘casually’ vandalised 12 crosses over the last fortnight with no intention to create an enmity. Vandalising of Christian religious symbol and a temple were reported in at least 12 places, since July 1.
Parrikar expressing his faith in the state police said, “As the chief minister and home minister, I was very confident that we will crack it (the cases). We were going in a very scientific way. We have done a lot of data mining, used technology, as well as many other techniques which normally an investigation agency uses.”
Reacting on why CBI investigation was not preferred in the case, the minister said, “It (CBI) is not a policing agency, it is an investigation agency and this (desecration cases) required policing.”
Speaking on the ongoing investigation, the minister was quoted as saying: ” You require to track movement of vehicles. All those aspects we have taken into consideration during the current investigation. We have also taken into consideration which were the vehicles near desecration site visiting every day. All this data was mined and properly analysed.”
