Panaji, Dec 9 Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar has been slapped with a legal notice allegedly by the victim of a sexual exploitation case, days after he claimed that a power cabinet minister had been involved in sexually exploiting a woman.
Chodankar said that the notice was a proof that the victim was being harassed by the Minister into issuing the notice, which has asked the state Congress president to desist from revealing any material linked to the sexual exploitation case in the public domain.
"The Minister is behind this (legal notice) with the CM's blessings. The victim, who I do not know, has said that she is poor (in the notice). The notice calls her Mrs. X. If the victim is poor, then how is she able to hire a Mumbai-based law firm," Chodankar told a press conference in Panaji. The notice has claimed that the victim hails from Bihar.
"This is a clear case wherein the Minister is using intimidation tactics. He is trying to pressurise me to not release the evidence. We are not scared of such threats," Chodankar also said.
On November 30, Chodankar in a press conference had alleged that a cabinet minister (without naming) in the BJP-led coalition government had sexually exploited a woman and further alleged that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was using the Goa Police to destroy evidence connected to the case.
Chodankar had claimed that the video, audio and Whatsapp messages suggested sexual exploitation of a woman by the Minister.
He had also said that if the BJP-led coalition government did not take action against the Minister, the party would release the evidence in the public domain ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled visit to Goa on December 19.
In response to Chodankar's deadline, Sawant has said that he would sack any minister in his cabinet who is accused of sexual exploitation, but also said that he would initiate a probe only if the woman files a formal complaint.
Chodankar claims that it is unfair of the Chief Minister to expect a victim to file a police complaint against a powerful minister and demanded that the yet unnamed minister be sacked from the cabinet.
"CM made a statement yesterday that he will investigate after the victim files a complaint. What kind of a Home Minister is this? He has seen the evidence, he knows who the Minister is. He is asking the victim to complain against a powerful Minister. Which means, is the CM asking the victim lady to establish the crime?" Chodankar said.
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