A spurt in crime in recent weeks has turned the heat on the ruling BJP government and police in Goa, with three murders in the last week alone becoming a political flashpoint.

Amid growing law-and-order concerns, the Goa government Wednesday authorised district magistrates (DMs) to exercise powers under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) for three months, citing “prevailing circumstances”.

The order came over a month after the police wrote to the state’s Home Department urging that DMs be empowered under the NSA, saying that while many offenders had been arrested, the measures were proving “insufficient to neutralise repeat offenders and organised elements, who are likely to act in a manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order”.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant Thursday a

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