French actress hounded out of disputed Goa house; says not Modi's India

More than a week after she was locked in her home in the beach village of Calangute without water or electricity following a civil dispute over the property, 75-year-old French actress Marianne Borgo, finally vacated her residence late on Thursday night claiming that her tragic experience belied Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a tourist-friendly India.

Borgo, who has 81 acting credits in her film and television career in English and French productions, which includes a popular TV mini series The Bourne Identity, said she was held hostage in her house and was even unable to bathe after her water connection was snapped allegedly by those who were contesting her property ownership.

“This is not Modi's Idea of India. He has been working all over the world to create a positive tourism-friendly image but the recent events have left me disappointed as I feel the achievements are not able to reach the state level here in Goa,” Borgo said in her statement to media persons.

Borgo had bought the house in survey no.11/14 Calangute in 2008, one of the most popular beach villages in North Goa from a local lawyer Francisco Sousa, who incidentally died during the Covid pandemic. After the seller's death, his family had alleged that there was no sale deed for the property which was allegedly bought by Borgo in 2008. The case was being heard by a local civil court between Borgo and Sousa's family.

Last week, Borgo found herself locked in her house, unable to see visitors or even exit the house, due to private security personnel posted around the house by Sousa's kin, who claimed that the French actress was illegally occupying the house.

Borgo had claimed that complaints made to the local police to allow her free access to the house had fallen on deaf ears, even as the police inspector Dattaguru Sawant, the in-charge of Calangute police station had said that the police could not intervene "in a property dispute, which was a civil case". Borgo had also alleged that her own security personnel had been repeatedly summoned to the local police station and harassed.