Scoffing at the claims made by a social activist linking state minister Avertano Furtado with a youth who was accused of raping a minor girl, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar today said the activist has lost his "mental balance".
Aires Rodrigues, the social activist had alleged that the headmistress of the Vasco school, where the seven-year-old student was allegedly raped on January 14, was related to Furtado, the Fisheries Minister.
Furtado has clarified that he was neither related to the headmistress and nor her nephew who according to Rodrigues is involved in the crime.
"It is a wrong trend to malign ministers or MLAs this way. This is a fit case for taking the person (Rodrigues) to mental hospital", Parrikar told the State Legislative Assembly.
Furtado is neither related to the headmistress nor her nephew, he added.
Rebutting Rodrigues' allegation that police were "shielding" the nephew because he is related to the minister, Parrikar said, "the campaign to malign name of the nephew of the headmistress should stop".
"The nephew is working in Dubai. We have checked the Interpol records, according to which he came to India for the last time on November 29, 2012", the chief minister said while expressing lament over investigators being unable to crack the case.
Referring to Rodrigues, Parrikar said, "We have to forgive some people who have lost their mental balance".
Even three months after the incident that occurred on the premises of the school, the special investigation team of the state police has failed to even identify the accused.
