Team Herald
CALANGUTE: The famed hospitality of Goa came under a cloud once again, as a group of tourists from Maharashtra was allegedly assaulted by staff members at a shack in Calangute early on Friday.
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The incident marks yet another violent incident involving tourists in the area within a week. On December 31, a tourist from Andhra Pradesh was beaten to death after an altercation over serving beyond the shack’s operating hours.
Friday’s incident took place at the Planet Goa shack, located on Calangute Beach around 3 am. Nitin Agarwal and his friends, hailing from Thane and Mumbai, were reportedly attacked by the shack’s employees and security guards. The shack is owned by a relative of a Calangute panchayat member.
According to police reports, the altercation started over a minor issue. The shack had already closed for the day when the tourists, while walking near the establishment, accidentally collided with a clothes drying stand. Mistaking the sound for a potential theft, staff members allegedly attacked the group. During the assault, one of the tourists, identified as Rohit, sustained serious head injuries after being struck with a wooden stick. The blow caused severe bleeding, and authorities are now investigating whether the attack was an attempted murder.
Rohit was rushed to the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC) in Bambolim, where he received treatment and was later discharged on Friday.
Following the attack, local police arrested six individuals in connection with the assault. The accused include Noufal PT (28) from Kerala, Rohit Kumar (27), Abhishek Kumar (24), Vinod Kumar (31), and Surinder Kumar (28), all hailing from Himachal Pradesh, as well as Mayuresh Saudagar (34), a security guard from Pernem.
In another troubling development, on December 31, a 28-year-old tourist, Bhola Ravi Teja from Andhra Pradesh, was allegedly murdered after a violent altercation with shack staff over a food dispute at Calangute beach.
