PANAJI
In yet another offensive from the government following the agitation against Section 39A which pushed it on the back foot, the police have booked a third FIR against hundreds of individuals, including MLAs, for allegedly holding unlawful protests outside the private residence of TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane at Dona Paula.
The FIR names Congress' Leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao, Aldona MLA, Carlos Alvares-Ferreira, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs Venzy Viegas and Cruz Silva, Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) chief, Manoj Parab, AAP State president, Valmiki Naik and around 1,200 to 1,500 'others'.
The FIR stated that the protest was held without prior permission wherein the demonstrators allegedly blocked the entire stretch of D B Marg up to Dona Paula for over eight hours and trespassed into the minister’s property.
The action comes several days after the episode where protesters led by the legislators who had gathered for a 'maha-andolan' decided to march to the minister’s residence earlier this week.
Earlier, the police had also registered separate FIRs in connection with the alleged disappearance of 10 files from the TCP office at Patto after the protest, where MLA Viresh Borkar and Siridao-Palem villagers had stayed put overnight.
Another FIR alleged that Palem-Siridao villagers trespassed into the minister’s property.
The latest FIR was reportedly booked against the MLAs and over a thousand protesters after Tiswadi's executive magistrate (mamlatdar) filed a written complaint in connection with the episode.
The protesters meanwhile denied the allegations, terming them fabricated.
Interestingly, Borkar while calling off his hunger strike on Thursday night, had claimed that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had assured him that the criminal cases booked against the protesters will not be acted upon and eventually withdrawn.
