<p class="title">Goa Police have filed a chargesheet against former minister Atanasio Monserratte in connection with the alleged rape of a minor girl in 2016.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Women's Police Station filed the 250-page chargesheet in North Goa district court yesterday after the investigation in the case was completed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Monserratte, 54, has been named as an accused in the case, a senior police official said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The girl, then aged 16, had filed a complaint in May 2016 alleging that the politician had drugged and raped her in March that year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She had also alleged that her mother "sold" her to Monserratte for Rs 50 lakh.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Monserratte was arrested on May 5, 2016 and is out on bail.</p>.<p class="bodytext">At that time, the politician had claimed that he was innocent and the case against him was "politically motivated".</p>.<p class="bodytext">The girl's mother was not named in the chargesheet as there was no sufficient evidence that she sold her daughter, the police official said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Monserratte has been charged under section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He has also been booked under provisions of the Information Technology Act for use of cellphone in the alleged crime, the police official said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Monserratte was previously in the Congress and served as the education minister in the Digambar Kamat-led government between 2007 and 2012. He was later expelled from the party.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He then floated his own outfit called the United Goan Party, and on its ticket contested the state Assembly election from Panaji constituency last year but lost.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He is currently a leader of the Goa Forward Party, an alliance partner in the BJP-led state government.</p>
<p class="title">Goa Police have filed a chargesheet against former minister Atanasio Monserratte in connection with the alleged rape of a minor girl in 2016.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Women's Police Station filed the 250-page chargesheet in North Goa district court yesterday after the investigation in the case was completed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Monserratte, 54, has been named as an accused in the case, a senior police official said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The girl, then aged 16, had filed a complaint in May 2016 alleging that the politician had drugged and raped her in March that year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She had also alleged that her mother "sold" her to Monserratte for Rs 50 lakh.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Monserratte was arrested on May 5, 2016 and is out on bail.</p>.<p class="bodytext">At that time, the politician had claimed that he was innocent and the case against him was "politically motivated".</p>.<p class="bodytext">The girl's mother was not named in the chargesheet as there was no sufficient evidence that she sold her daughter, the police official said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Monserratte has been charged under section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He has also been booked under provisions of the Information Technology Act for use of cellphone in the alleged crime, the police official said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Monserratte was previously in the Congress and served as the education minister in the Digambar Kamat-led government between 2007 and 2012. He was later expelled from the party.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He then floated his own outfit called the United Goan Party, and on its ticket contested the state Assembly election from Panaji constituency last year but lost.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He is currently a leader of the Goa Forward Party, an alliance partner in the BJP-led state government.</p>