Porvorim (Goa): Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has said that 50-year-old man who has been arrested for desecrating religious structures was indoctrinated by a group of Israelis during his jail term at Aguada prison.

“When he was going through a jail term of three years at Aguada prison for attempt to murder case, he had met a group of Isrealis who told him that Idols should not be worshipped as there are souls trapped in it,” Parrikar told the State Legislative Assembly today responding to the Calling Attention motion moved by opposition benches on the series of desecrations.

When he was released from jail, the first thing he did was to break Altar at his house, the chief minister said quoting the confession of Francis Pereira who was arrested for desecrating religious places and statues during last more than a decade.

Parrikar said that the accused has told police that Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussain and Veerappan were his role model, while he was on the mission to free souls trapped in the statues.

The taxi owner by profession, the accused, has confessed of desecrating 113 Idols in last 14 years, Parrikar told the House even as opposition benches raised suspicion that there would be more than one person involved in the crime.

The Chief Minister said the accused was operating alone as he did not wanted to take anyone else into confidence. “He was lone operator but we are not ruling out involvement of more people,” Parrikar said.

“The accused had turned vegetarian and was not drinking liquor with the fear that the souls which he was freeing from the religious structures or statues would enter his body,” Parrikar said.

The accused, he said, was going around with five kilogram heavy hammer in his taxi and used to attack the structures on his way back from the airport where he was going to drop the passengers.

“He used to properly mark the spots and execute his plans,” Parrikar said.

Telling about the incidents that the accused has narrated to the police, Parrikar said “the accused even went to Farmagudi (a village 30 kms away from his place) and climbed up the giant statue of Shivaji Maharaj by pulling a rope.”

“He started hitting the statue of Shivaji with hammer but it did not break. He returned when he came to know that it was made of Bronze,” the chief minister said.

The accused has told police that he wanted to stop attacking the religious places after desecrating 4-5 more but was caught before, Parrikar said.

The Chief Minister told the House that State police have booked him under various sections including section 153 (A) of IPC which deals with creating enemity amongst the groups so that he can be jailed for long tenure.