PANAJI: Soham Naik, son of a Goa BJP councillor and a resident of Madhegal, Cacora, was arrested on Sunday after locals gathered outside the police station demanding action. He is accused of sexually exploiting several minor victims, recording obscene videos, and circulating them online. South Goa Superintendent of Police Santosh Desai said the first FIR was initially registered, followed by two more based on the survivors’ statements. Soham is being treated as the prime suspect, and several others are also being questioned.What we know so far: Police investigations revealed that both the accused, 20-year-old Soham Sushant Naik, and the survivors were minors when the incidents occurred, which authorities say was about three years ago while they were in college.Deputy inspector General Varsha Sharma said mobile devices belonging to the accused will undergo forensic examination. She clarified that no survivors appear in the video clips recovered so far and that FIRs are being registered solely on the basis of complaints. Soham has been charged under the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita, the Information Technology Act, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and the Goa Children’s Act. A local court remanded him in four-day police custody. The alleged sex scandal has been transferred from the local police to the state crime branch.‘Protecting such monsters is fatal for society’Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of shielding the councillor’s son. He alleged the accused exploited 30 minor girls over three years, filming and blackmailing them. Kejriwal called for the harshest punishment for the accused and demanded justice for the survivors. In a post on X, he said, “What kind of demons are there in the BJP? In Goa, an extremely repulsive case has come to light where the son of a BJP councilor has been sexually exploiting 30 minor girls for three years, filming them, and blackmailing them. The BJP has turned people’s lives in Goa into hell. Everyone is living under the shadow of fear,” he said. “Protecting such monsters is fatal for society. No demon should even think of doing this again,” he added further.
