Goa minister's kin named in MGP leader's suicide note

Former Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party leader Prakash Naik shot himself at his residence. Before shooting himself he had sent a WhatsApp message to friends and a social media group which alleged that Goa cabinet minister's brother and a local businessman were blackmailing him.

Panaji: The Opposition in Goa has demanded an "impartial and transparent" investigation into the alleged suicide of former Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) leader Prakash Naik at his residence on Friday morning.

Before shooting himself Naik, a former sarpanch of Merces village in North Goa had sent a WhatsApp message to friends and a social media group in which he said that a cabinet minister's brother and a well known local businessman were blackmailing him as a result of which he was being forced to end his life.

"We demand an impartial and transparent enquiry into the alleged suicide of Prakash Naik because the brother of a minister has been named in his suicide note," Goa Forward Party vice president Durgadas Kamat told a press conference in Panaji.

Goa Forward is a regional political party, which is currently in the opposition.

"The persons named in Prakash Naik's suicide note should be questioned immediately," Kamat said.

Naik contested the 2017 state assembly elections on an MGP ticket but lost to the Congress party's Tony Fernandes.