PANJIM: The Police Department appears to have let loose its problematic personnel as a fresh extortion case has raised serious doubts on the overall functioning of the force.
Two months after an extortion incident at Sinquerim – exposed by Herald – led to the suspension of three personnel including a PSI, a similar episode at Dona Paula has troubled Goa Police’s reputation.
Night patrolling constables Sainath Parab and Akash Navelkar have been suspended pending a disciplinary inquiry.
North SP Shobhit Saxena, on being contacted by Herald, confirmed the incident. “The concerned staff are under suspension and Departmental Enquiry is initiated. We have zero tolerance for misconduct with public,” he said.
Herald has exclusively accessed information about how a young musician and his girlfriend were allegedly threatened and forced to pay approximately Rs 10,000 to the two constables. The 26-year-old claimed he was at a sea view point in Dona Paula with his girlfriend, past midnight, when the motorcycle-borne policemen asked the couple to accompany them to the Dona Paula Police Station.
The musician sought to know the offence to which the patrolling team cited “night curfew”. One of them, the musician complained, demanded Rs 10,000 to settle the matter outside the police station. The victim denied having the money to which the constables directed the young couple to an ATM machine.
Information available with Herald reveals that the cops were in no mood for negotiation and settled the ‘extortion amount’ at Rs 9,000. The complaint reached the office of Director General of Police and North Goa Superintendent of Police prompting an inquiry. The victim couple identified the constables followed by their suspension.
The policemen also attempted to hit the youth to his request to settle the matter at Rs 5,000. Reportedly the patrolling cops took a couple of rounds outside the ATM centre to ensure the musician withdraws and delivers the amount to them. The man, as he was not carrying his debit card, used his girlfriend’s card to withdraw the money after transferring the amount into her account through net banking.
The entire incident was sent on the official WhatsApp numbers of the DGP and North SP. The errant cops had even asked the couple to not disclose the matter to anyone.
Ironically, the PSI who was entrusted with the task to conduct the spot inquiry is the same official suspended in a previous alleged extortion case at Sinquerim. The department re-instated him around a month of his suspension even as departmental inquiry is underway.
On June 24, the department had suspended PSI Jatin Potdar, head constable Pandurang Samant and IRB hawaldar Nilesh Salgaonkar on charges of extortion and misconduct. Herald had exposed the manner in which the patrolling team preyed on persons during the late hours, blackmailing their victims and extorting money from them. These policemen had dared to also snub their designation patrolling points and cross their jurisdiction. A home guard, reportedly hand-in-glove with the errant policemen, was sent back to his parent office in Panjim.
The present alleged extortion case also had a similar modus operandi.
