Goa drug nexus issue: Cong leader slams media

Issue was fabricated by press and a few others who were against me, said Naik

Congress candidate from North Goa Lok Sabha constituency Ravi Naik today attacked the media for linking his name to the controversial police-drug mafia nexus in the state.

"The issue (nexus) was fabricated by the press and a few others who were against me," Naik said in his first media interaction after the announcement of his candidature.

Naik, along with his son Roy, was last year indicted in a State Assembly Committee report for their alleged links with the drug syndicate in Goa. The former Goa Home Minister had then termed the report as "totally biased, fabricated and politically motivated".

The House committee, headed by legislator Miccky Pacheco, had recommended criminal investigation against Naik and his son. Several policemen were suspended and arrested after the drug nexus was exposed by the media.

Naik today said a few House committee members, who were against him, dragged his name in the report. He said the media blew up the issue and falsely implicated him in the episode.

"Drugs are being consumed in the coastal belt during the current BJP regime. Where is the media now? Why is not a single line being written about it?" he asked media persons in the presence of Goa Congress chief John Fernandes.

At the press meet, Naik was also flanked by National Students Union of India (NSUI) Goa unit Vice-President Sunil Kawathankar, who had then filed a petition in the Bombay High Court demanding a CBI probe into the nexus as state police were under the control of Naik, the then Home Minister.

Fernandes defended the party decision to field Naik, claiming the issue of drug nexus was discussed by Congress' Central Election Committee which found nothing against him.