PANJIM: With over 207 Shiroda locals booked for rioting over report of traffic violation to the police, 180-odd have denied being involved in the crime.
This group of locals have now started a signature campaign claiming they were “mere onlookers” to the ruckus in Shiroda when a shopkeeper was, suspected to be a Traffic Sentinel, sending traffic violation pictures and videos to the police.
The 180-odd residents of Shiroda have formed their own body Shiroda People’s Forum and also made a representation to the JMFC, Ponda claiming that Advocate Diya Shetkar was falsely implicated by the local police. The Forum has also sought a magisterial inquiry into the matter.
“About 180 locals claim that they were not involved in the rioting incident and were mere onlookers. They assert that only 5-6 people were actually involved and those were known trouble makers in the area. The known trouble-makers wanted to create a riot and loot the shop,” a press statement by the Forum representatives to the media stated.
Pascal Rodrigues from Karai village says that Diya Shetkar only tried to help everyone including the mobile shop owner but a “BJP politician’s goons booed her and would have attacked her if she hadn’t bowed down to their demands.”
The Ponda police are investigating into a complaint filed by shopkeeper Ramanuj Gupta that a group of locals forced him to vacate his rented shop, threatened him and his family and created a ruckus. He denied being a traffic sentinel; but the locals most of whom were challaned for the violation claim that he was a traffic sentinel.
