Panaji, June 1 (IANS): Panaji's Congress MLA, Mayor and former Deputy Mayor were on Saturday booked for allegedly molesting a woman during an anti-encroachment drive outside a casino office in the state capital on Friday.

Congress MLA Atanasio Monserrate has said that the drive happened in a public space and there was nothing untoward which occurred at the time.

The First Information Report was registered after a woman, who was protesting the partial demolition of a casino office's facade, filed a complaint against Panaji MLA Atanasio Monserrate, Mayor Uday Madkaikar and former Deputy Mayor Yatin Parekh, accusing them of molestation during the fracas which was playing out on the sidelines of the demolition.

"A complaint has been filed at the Panaji police station. We have started preliminary investigation," a Goa Police spokesperson said.

The FIR has been filed under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (outraging modesty), 504 (breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

Speaking to reporters, Monserrate said that he was only inspecting the Corporation of the City of Panaji's encroachment drive outside the casino premises.

"I do not know about this. Nothing untoward happened during the drive on Friday," said Monserrate who, in the lead up to the May 19 Assembly by-poll campaign, had promised to move offshore casinos from the Mandovi river off Panaji.