Panaji, Jan 17 (IANS): The Goa Police Friday booked Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar for land grab.
The registration of the First Information Report (FIR) under sections 420, 119, 120 and 120 B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) comes within 24 hours of a directive given by a trial court Thursday.
The order by Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Reina Fernandes followed a petition by lawyer-activist Aires Rodrigues, who has claimed that Parulekar, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from the Saligao assembly constituency, had illegally encroached on 599-square metres of prime land adjoining National Highway 17.
The order also asks the police to book panchayat secretary Peter Martin for making false documents with which Parulekar tried to cover up the act.
Rodrigues had earlier filed the complaint at the Porvorim police station, where police had refused to register the offence.