The 50-year-old man arrested for desecrating religious symbols, including holy crosses, in Goa was indoctrinated against idol worship allegedly by a group of Israeli inmates when he was lodged in a prison here, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told the legislative assembly on Wednesday.
According to police, Francis Pereira, a taxi operator arrested last week, has “confessed” to desecrating 113 religious symbols in the state over the last 14 years.
“When he was serving a three-year jail term at the Aguada prison in an attempt to murder case, he had met a group of Israeli inmates who told him that idols should not be worshipped as there are souls trapped in them,” Parrikar said.
He was responding to a calling attention motion by the opposition on a series of incidents of defilement of religious symbols in Goa, some of which took place in the last fortnight.
When he was released from jail, the first thing Pereira did was to break the altar at his house, the CM said, quoting from what he said was his “confessional” statement given to the police.
Parrikar said the accused told the police that “Osama bin Laden (Al-Qaeda founder), Saddam Hussain (former Iraqi president) and Veerappan (sandalwood smuggler) were his role models”.
Pereira was arrested by a team of special investigation officers from Curtorim village in South Goa, a senior police officer said. He reportedly told Police that he believed that “that he is freeing the trapped souls”.
Search for the perpetrator was intensified following the desecration of a holy cross, found defiled, on Thursday in South Goa’s Margao town with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar calling it a “planned crime”.
The accused was planning to desecrate an idol in the village. But he tried to flee from the spot on seeing a police team. During initial questioning, he admitted to having carried out the desecration of the religious symbolsSenior Police Officer
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has ruled out handing over the investigation into the incidents of desecration to the CBI as being demanded by the Opposition Congress.
Parrikar had earlier said,
This (the desecration incidents) is a well-planned crime being executed in Goa. The Goa Police is fully involved in the investigation.
Expressing anguish over the incidents, the Goa Church, which represents all chapels and churches in the state, had earlier said that the incidents seemed to be the handiwork of certain vested interests who wanted to provoke communal discord in the state, which is known for religious tolerance.
(With agency inputs)
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