November 05, 2008	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 6, 1429

PANAJI (India), Nov 4: Police arrested the son of the local education minister on Tuesday in Goa on charges of raping a 14-year-old German girl. Rohit Monserrate, 21, turned himself in to authorities after evading police for three weeks.

He was charged with rape and also accused of sending the girl lewd text messages, police said.

“He surrendered before the police and has been placed under arrest,” Superintendent Bosco George said on Tuesday.

The suspect’s father, Atanasio Monserrate, who has been charged with abetting his son by allowing his mobile phone to be used to send the texts, insisted the accusations were politically motivated.

“My son is paying the price only because I’m a politician,” Anastasio told reporters on Tuesday. “I will move the heavens to prove that my son is innocent.” An unnamed German woman first complained to police in Calangute, 10kilometres from the Goan state capital Panaji, on Oct 2, alleging that her daughter had been “mentally and sexually abused”.

She also said that police in the former Portuguese colony wanted her to withdraw the complaint.

The case took a further twist when the woman’s lawyer, who is also an activist with a local social welfare charity, was attacked at a restaurant.—AFP