Did the Cuncolim police let off four Kerala boys caught with drugs at the Balli station?

Basuri Desai

PANJIM: On Saturday, at around 11.15 am at Balli railway station, a man claiming to be a Punjab policeman enlisted the help of locals and caught three youth from Kerala and handed them over to Cuncolim police station as they were in possession of some narcotic substances.

Unfortunately for the man, he was not able to produce any identification at Cuncolim police station and the entire case was covered up.

There are three versions to the incident.

 The first version, and collaborated by many, is based on witnesses and on footage captured on CCTV cameras of Adarsh Cooperative Credit Society, where it clearly show the Kerala youth caught by locals present at Balli railway station.

Bhanudas Naik, a local who witnessed the incident said that the person who claimed to be a police constable from Punjab chased four youth and sought help from the locals. “He came to us and said “Kaise Hindustani ho jo help nahia karte, ye log drugs leke Goa me aaye hai” (What kind of Indians you are that you are not helping catch people who came to Goa with drugs), Naik said.

He said that after that the locals managed to catch three of the four youth. The fourth youth jumped on a running bus and escaped.

Another witness said that all three were pleading with the locals not to call the police and admitted that they were carrying ganja. Cuncolim police have denied the existence of drugs saying they did not find anything from the search, whereas the locals claim that the youth did possess ganja.

According to another witness there were some packets they had seen with the four youth but later when they started running they could not see what happened to them and whether the fourth youth who jumped on the bus had taken the packets as he was carrying a bag. Cuncolim police have not made any efforts to trace the fourth person who according to the locals fled with a bag.

When Herald contacted the Cuncolim police station, Assistant Sub Inspector Velip had a second version, while Police Inspector Rama Asre had a third.

Velip told Herald that the person who posed as a Punjab police constable was mentally weak, is suspended from service and was not able to produce an identity card. Velip also said that the constable had a fight with the Kerala youth over a cigarette and that is how they came to the police station. However, he said that the statement of all four had been taken and no narcotics were found with them. Later they were released after knowing that the youth were students in Goa on a holiday. 

Meanwhile PI Rama Asre said that the three Kerala youth were picked from Balli railway station after somebody called and informed the police about suspicious activities. He denied that they had been handed over by the locals with the help of a Punjab police constable.

–