Using the inauguration of a coastal police station to target Superintendent of Police Vijay Singh, Mandrekar in the presence of senior police officers, including DGP Kishan Kumar, Mandrekar said, "I don't know what energy and what motive this SP had behind raiding beach parties. He was acting like a goon while raiding them."

Singh was present among the audience. Mandrekar said Singh, who held office in Porvorim, near Panaji, should have stuck to his jurisdiction and not have gone beyond it. He added, "Why do we need to concentrate on coastal security when terrorists can come from any direction?"

Singh was transferred early this year from North district to the Traffic cell soon after a crackdown led by him on drug dens in the state. He was responsible for raiding several notorious shacks in the belt of Anjuna, where cases related to narcotics were booked.

The minister's comments come within days of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal being suspended by the Uttar Pradesh government ostensibly for ordering demolition of a wall of a mosque that was under-construction in Gautam Budh Nagar district.