TEAM HERALD
CALANGUTE: Tension prevailed at Calangute beach on Wednesday, after a group of Territorial Army personnel from MP allegedly assaulted seven Drishti lifeguards on duty at the beach.
A few Territorial Army personnel were later detained by Calangute police for questioning.
According to Drishti lifeguards, the incident took place at about 4.30 pm when a lifeguard on duty at Calangute beach noticed a group of about 25 Territorial Army personnel venturing into deep waters. As the sea was rough, the lifeguard asked them to move away from the deep waters.
“The Territorial Army personnel showed arrogance and abused our lifeguard and assaulted him. Two of our colleagues rushed to his rescue, but they too were assaulted by the personnel who were under the influence of alcohol,” said Shekar Kamat, lifeguard captain at the Calangute tower, while narrating the sequence of events.
“Soon, lifeguards and other staff from the Calangute lifeguard tower also rushed to the rescue of our colleagues, but we were outnumbered by the Territorial Army personnel. The group started thrashing anyone with lifeguard uniforms. In all, seven of us were beaten up and the accused then fled from the site,” Kamat added.
Besides Kamat, the other lifeguards who were assaulted were identified as Sajjan Tari, Gauresh Kamat, Pravin Pilarnkar, Dayanand Ghadi, Videsh Morajkar and Daya Parab.
Drishti Lifeguards Services General Manager Prabhakarnath Pandey later filed a complaint with Calangute police and demanded the arrests of the accused.
