Aam Aadmi Party today joined the chorus in criticising Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar over reinstatement of his brother-in-law Dilip Malvankar despite graft charges against him, terming the development as "murder of law".
Malvankar, a senior officer at state-run Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), was suspended in August 2015, after the Anti-Corruption Bureau caught him red-handed while accepting bribe.
"This is a slap in the face of the people of Goa who voted the BJP on its promise of zero tolerance to corruption. The AAP will not allow this daylight murder of the rule of the law," State AAP unit said in a letter written to Parsekar.
Accusing the CM of "protecting" Malvankar, AAP said "We hereby give seven days time to explain why your brother-in-law has not suffered any consequences of his corrupt actions, failing which, please be prepared to suffer the consequence of your actions which are blatantly protecting your relative".
Parsekar was not available for comment.
The Congress and Goa Forward have already attacked the government for "going back" on its pre-poll promise of adopting zero tolerance for corruption.
AAP stated that Malvankar was caught red-handed by ACB while accepting a bribe of Rs one lakh to allot a plot in Tuem Industrial Estate on August 19, 2015.
"....On August 20, you (CM) assured the people of Goa that you would not interfere in the probe and your relatives were also bound by the law.
"However, on October 30, 2015, you (CM) transferred police inspector Nolasco Raposo, one of the officials involved in the raid on your brother in law. Further, superintendent of police (ACB) Bosco George was also shunted out weeks later," AAP claimed in the letter.
The party termed reinstatement of Malvankar as the "most shocking development of all".
Congress, NCP and newly-formed Goa Forward had threatened to petition Governor Mridula Sinha seeking her intervention in the matter.
A senior officer attached to the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) yesterday said that Parsekar had no role in the reinstatement.
"The Chief Minister has already clarified in the past that he was not interfering in the investigation of thecase. He was not involved in the reinstatement," he had said.
