Panaji
Crime Branch has appointed Advocate G D Kirtani as a special prosecutor to handle the 2016 case booked against social activist and lawyer Aires Rodrigues for allegedly holding dual citizenship.
Aires had earlier appeared before the Crime Branch last Friday and requested that the summons directing him to appear for interrogation be rescheduled.
The Old Goa police had in January 2016 filed an FIR against Aires on a complaint by former Colva panchayat member Calvert Gonsalves, who had alleged that the birth of the activist was registered in the central registry of births, marriage and deaths of Lisbon, Portugal, as ‘Assento de Nascimento No. 1260-A’ on November 2, 1987.
Gonsalves had also claimed that Aires had obtained various Portuguese citizen’s cards such as a ‘Bilhete de Identidade’ (identity card) and a ‘Cartão de Cidadão’.
Crime Branch has claimed that the international police organisation, Interpol, had informed that Aires had obtained a Portuguese passport and nationality, and had even used the document for travel.
