Thaindian News

Panaji, Jan 21 (IANS) A senior Congress official Friday said the drug issue existed in several states and was not confined only to Goa. Congress general secretary in-charge of Goa B.K. Hariprasad said Goa was not the only state in which drugs were sold and added that Chief Minister Digambar Kamat had not informed the party high-command about the police-politician-drug mafia nexus in the state.

“We have received no report from the chief minister on the drug issue. There have been some newspaper reports, but we do not know anything,” Hariprasad told reporters after attending the general body meeting of the Pradesh Congress Committee here.

“The drug issue is not confined to Goa. It is there in several states,” he said.

Replying to questions on what action was being contemplated against state Home Minister Ravi Naik, whose son is linked to the nexus, Hariprasad said: “We do not have any complaint. The moment we have a complaint we will act.”

Seven police officers have already been arrested and later released on bail, even as the high court had passed strictures against the crime branch for shoddy investigations into the nexus.

A Swedish model and a former girlfriend of another Israeli drug dealer Yaniv Benaim alias Atala has accused Home Minister Ravi Naik’s son Roy of being linked to the drug mafia. Naik has denied the charges.