Panaji: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday said the police will arrest the culprits involved in the desecration of holy crosses, which came to light on Tuesday, within the next four days.
The Chief Minister was replying to the issue raised during Zero Hour on Wednesday, by Leader of Opposition Babu Kavlekar. Earlier this week, at least 12crosses in the cemetery of the Fatima Chapel at Karanzal, Madkai in Ponda taluk were vandalised.
The Opposition leader recalled that while raising the issue of desecration of religious places through a calling attention motion earlier in the House, the Opposition had wondered if it was the handiwork of the lone accused in police custody, as confidently maintained by the government, and had sought steps to ensure that there were no accomplices.
The Chief Minister said that whatever has happened was “most unfortunate”. “Nobody can give a guarantee that anyone else would not do a similar thing by taking inspiration from the accused in police custody.” According to police, the accused in custody,Francis Pereira, who has shown police around 146 places where he conducted the desecration, had told them he had no clue about the latest one. Ponda police went to the site on Tuesday after chapel authorities informed them about the incident, and on the same night,took Pereira there, sources said.
Some crosses were found desecrated, and a wall-mounted box used to preserve bone remains was also destroyed. The miscreants entered the graveyard by breaking the metal gate, police said.
The incident came to light after Deodito Silveira from Dhakne, Madkai, visited the cemetery on Tuesday morning to prepare for some religious rites at his wife’s grave, police sources said, adding that the crosses over the graves had been detached and scattered around the cemetery.
The latest case of desecration is a new twist to a series of desecrations in South Goa over a month.
