Main Goa rape accused surrenders

Panaji: Goa Education Minister Atanasio Monserrate's son Rohit, charged with raping a minor German girl, surrendered before police on Tuesday - more than three weeks after a police complaint was filed against him.

Rohit surrendered to the Calangute police a few hours before the police were to inform the Bombay High Court in Panaji about the progress in their investigations into the rape case, in which the kin of two more politicians is also a suspect.

Rohit appeared at the Calangute police station at 12.40pm accompanied by his father and his lawyer in a car topped with a beacon light.

After the complaint was filed by the mother of the victim on October 14, the police did not arrest him, saying the arrest would take place only after the victim gave her statement.

It took the police over a fortnight to record the statement. Rohit's statement was recorded in secrecy by the police a few hours before the victim deposed before a judicial magistrate on Saturday.

Rohit Monserrate and Warren Alemao, nephew of cabinet minister Churchill Alemao and Joaquim Alemao, have been named by the mother of the victim as the main accused.