GERARD DE SOUZA
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PANJIM: It is perhaps, the first of its kind banishment of a persona non-grata from the island village of Divar. Mohammed Ali Nawaz, 22, who along with his cousin, sister and other family members was asked to leave the village for being a suspect in a spate of thefts, was on Wednesday night caught, thoroughly thrashed and handed over to the police, after circumstantial evidence forced the villagers to conclude he was at his old ways again.
Locals suspected that he was behind the opening of roof tiles at the house of one Rosario Picardo and was attempting to steal stuff from the house.
Presently languishing in police custody, Mohammed certainly seems to have underestimated the pastoral nature and close bonds that hold the community of Divar together.
Not too many years ago, the Nawaz family moved to Divar due to availability of work on the island village. The family clearly stood out, since they hailed from Sanquelim. Hence when a spate of thefts rocked Divar, the family immediately aroused the suspicions of the typical Goan villagers, who make everything their business. Subsequently Mohammed, his cousin, his sister and rest of his family members were asked to leave the village and never to return.
Sarpanch of São Mathias, Bhushan Bhomkar confirms this. “We had asked them to leave. It was public pressure and the knowledge that they were thieves, except that it could not be proved before a court,” Bhomkar said vouching for the fact that the villagers felt that it had to be an outsider who had to be a thief.
Last Wednesday night, when Mohammed was found among a crowd that had gathered outside the house of Rosario Picardo inquiring about the robbery it was only natural that he ended up being handed over to the police after being given a thrashing by the villagers gathered there.
Picardo, 75, was returning from Mumbai on the evening of Wednesday last, as his wife was opening his house, he heard a thud. Once inside, his wife saw a couple of roof tiles open and a rope hanging down from the roof. She screamed and the taxi driver called out and soon the whole vaddo was at their door steps.
Mohammed’s presence there and casual inquiries about the happenings turned the crowd on him. His accomplice, his cousin was caught in a way that can happen only in Divar.
Earlier too there had been robberies where electronic equipment was stolen and circumstantial evidence pointed to the involvement of the Nawaz family from Sanquelim.
For an island whose only access is through a ferry boat, getting the booty off the island or escaping is a difficult proposition, without arousing suspicion. The accomplice had allegedly jumped off the roof and injured his legs in an effort to get away. He made it to the main road and asked for medical help. A good samaritan from Divar dropped him at the Goa Medical College and Hospital. However, when the samaritan returned to the village and learnt that the robbery had taken place, he quickly narrated the sequence of events and the accomplice was placed under arrest while undergoing treatment in GMC at 3 am, by the Old Goa police.
Agitated and disturbed by the turn of events the closely knit village of Divar held a protest March Monday, decrying the robberies in their village and demanding strict policing.
Sarpanch of São Mathias, Bhushan Bhomkar said we had asked them to leave… it was public pressure and the knowledge that they were thieves, except that it could not be proved before a court
