DGP to monitor activity in Goa casinos ahead of polls: CM

Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Friday said that on directions of the poll panel which has expressed serious concern about their misuse for stashing and diverting illicit funds, the state police chief had been asked to keep tabs on the goings-on in the casinos.

"I have asked the DGP (Director General of Police) to keep watch on it," he told reporters at the State Secretariat, also saying that the ECI team led by Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi had also met him, during its two-day visit to the poll-bound state.

Asked if the possibility of Goa's casinos being used to stash and transfer illicit money as alleged by India's top poll official was a matter of concern, Parsekar said: "If the Election Commission is saying it, it must be".

On Thursday, after chairing a review meeting of poll preparations in the state, Zaidi had said: "We have also had a briefing with the Chief Secretary and we have conveyed our concerns, serious concern, about likely misuse of casinos and likely undue haste in finalising schemes without figuring the statutory provisions."

Goa has five operational offshore casinos parked in the Mandovi river here and nine onshore casinos housed in the numerous five-star resorts in the state's coastal regions.

--IANS

maya/vd