Atala surety, Metri is stock witness of cops
BY VIBHA VERMA
PANJIM, SEPT 1
In a major revelation that would further cement doubts of policemen-drug peddler nexus, the documents have confirmed that Prakash Metri, who stood surety for Atala alias Yaniv Benaim was a stock witness of police.
Atala is currently missing, with Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Court in Mapusa issuing warrants against him and forfeiting Rs 50,000 bail bond amount deposited by the Israeli drug peddler.
But what seems to be stunning is the fact that the person who stood surety for Atala is a stock witness for prosecution and has a history of being witness in at least five cases, so far.
Herald has exclusive access to documents which shows that Prakash Metri, a resident of Indranagar at Chimbel has stood as panch witness in over half a dozen police cases for over a decade.
In a case of theft in 2001, Prakash Baburao Metri (35) and Mohan Kashinath Korgaonkar (23) were called by the Old Goa police to act as panchas. The case investigating officer Sub Inspector Suraj Halankar (now PI) had called the pair on July 28, 2001 in connection with the theft of a car stereo, Panchanama which lasted for about 45 minutes.
The local has already remained panch witness in cases of heinous crime including attempt to murder, rape, threatening and others.
Earlier, in another case on May 27, 2001, Metri was this time called by PSI Shirodkar in connection with a case of attempt to murder registered at Panjim town police station. The businessman, in the ‘scene of offence panchanama’ had confirmed that the complainant Ramchandra Kundaikar had pointed towards a place opposite Taleigao sports club where the assault occurred.
In the case continuation, Metri was taken as the second Panch witness, wherein the alleged accused Shashikant Narvekar had confessed that he assaulted the complainant Kundaikar.
Reeling out yet another case on November 14, 2001 Metri was interestingly called again by the Old Goa police for recovery panchanama for the offence under sections 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 504 (threatening) of Indian Penal Code.
Not enough, on July 31, 2003, Metri was once again remembered, this time by the Agassaim police in a case of rape against a maid servant. The three page panchanama explaining the location where the offence was allegedly committed, belongings, etc was carried out for over an hour, which was written in English and explained to the panch witnesses in Konkani language.
The sudden disappearance of Atala for over a month has indeed raised a question mark on the functioning of the police machinery even though the drug peddler was released on conditional bail.
Goa police is otherwise also at the receiving end when the police-drug mafia nexus was exposed, a couple of months ago, after Atala’s revelation via secretly filmed footage that appeared on Internet video sharing sites – youtube.com and metacafe.com.
The disclosure detailed how some drug squad officials gave him confiscated narcotics from Court locker to re-sell in the market. This resulted in the suspension and subsequent arrests of seven police officials including Police Inspector Ashish Shirodkar, Sub Inspector Punaji Gawas, head constable Sheikh Hussain and constables Sandeep Parab, Saish Pokle and Ramchandra Kankonkar. The tainted men, booked for conspiracy and corruption charges have been released on bail.
