Saturday, October 22 2005 12:05 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: Accusing the Congress of shielding its Mumbai MP and film star Govinda in connection with the video clips which showed him with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in Dubai, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murli Manohar Joshi said crime remained crime and it did not matter when was it committed.

"Congress has always been providing patronage to criminals", Joshi said replying to a query what BJP would do given the Congress' reluctance to order a probe into Govinda's alleged links with the gang lord as shown in video clips by a private news channel recently.

"Crime is always a crime whenever it is committed. Time doesn't matter and it can be investigated at any stage", was the cryptic comment of Joshi when his attention was drawn to the statement of Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal who said there was no need for a probe into the film star's connection with the underworld as the video footage was very old.

He said BJP leader Ram Naik had already countered Govinda's stand that he met Dawood 'under pressure and threat'16 years ago in Dubai.