Panaji, Dec 23 (TNN): Goa's iconic pop star and Padma Shri awardee Remo Fernandes is a Portuguese citizen, the Goa police have discovered in the course of investigations into allegations that he heaped verbal abuse he is said to have heaped on a minor girl who suffered injuries in a car accident caused by his son.

The Goa police on Tuesday said Remo had obtained a Portuguese passport, but did not mention when the singer became a foreign national.

The Agasaim police has sent the second summons issued to him to the Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO), Panaji, with a request that it be forwarded to the Indian embassy in Lisbon to be served on Remo in Portugal.

The Agasaim police is probing the alleged verbal abuse of a minor girl at the Goa medical college (GMC) and hospital, where she was admitted after being knocked down by a vehicle driven by Remo's son Jonah Delalaye Fernandes on December 1.

Remo, who is currently in Europe, was awarded the Padma Shri in 2007.

TOI had first written about Goans rushing in to obtain Portuguese nationality by surrendering their Indian passports in order to find jobs in Europe, especially in the UK. This year itself, up to August, an average of nine Goans a day surrendered their Indian passports. A Portuguese passport entails visa-free entry to 172 countries, and easier access to high-paying employment.

Many Goans, who now hold a Portuguese passport, get better paid than other Indian nationals abroad. A Portuguese passport consultant estimates there are over two lakh Goans living in Goa, who have got their births transcribed in the Conservatoria dos Registos Centrais (Central Registry of Births) in Lisbon.