PANAJI : Former tourism minister Dilip Parulekar will face trial in Serula land-grabbing and cheating case along with two former officials of two communidade bodies.
The North Goa principal district and sessions court on Thursday directed the former minister and former attorney of Serula comunidade Peter Martins and former administrator of comunidades of Bardez Irene Sequeira, who are allegedly linked to the land grab case, to appear before it in person on June 17.
The order of North Goa principal district and sessions court judge Irshad Agha came on a plea filed by the crime branch before the court last December 2016 to close the case against the three.
The trial court on Thursday ordered that a FIR under sections 420, 119, 120 and 120 B of the Indian Penal Code must be filed within 24 hours of the order.
Parulekar, Martins and Sequeira have been accused of fudging government records to allot a plot to the former minister at throwaway prices.
Social activist Aires Rodrigues had first filed a police compliant against Parulekar in the case, which had been investigated by the crime branch for the past two years.
The complaint in the land grab case had been filed by Rodrigues in 2013 at the Porvorim police station. But the police had been hesitant to initiate any action against Parulekar, who was an influential minister then.
Hence Rodrigues had moved the Mapusa court, which asked the police to investigate the case and register a first information report.
Later the matter had been transferred to the crime branch. Rodrigues had claimed that the crime branch had allegedly tried to mislead the court seeking closure of the case.
Hence he had filed a protest petition before the North Goa principal district and sessions court, which conducted an inquiry into the case.
On Thursday, the court passed the order directing the minister and the two others to face trial.
Rodrigues had alleged that Parulekar illegally encroached on 599-square metres of prime land adjoining the national highway 66.
