PANJIM: Panjim Mayor Surendra Furtado was the first to testify before the Panjim Police as the latter began recording statements of persons who while on board the weeding machine fell into St Inez Creek during an inspection on Sunday.
Furtado along with six others, including a video journalist, had fallen in the creek during inspection of the weeding process being taken up.
“I was called by police to record my statement. I told the police that it was a human error and I don’t blame anybody,” Furtado said on Tuesday.
He said he had taken the media to demonstrate the cleaning process so that the people are aware that they should not dump waste in the water body. “It was my responsibility that I make people aware about the cleanliness,” he added amidst criticism that he allowed overloading of the vessel that resulted into the mishap.
Panjim Police Inspector Siddhant Shirodkar had told Herald that they would record statements of two witnesses at a time as a part of an inquiry initiated into the accident complaint filed by the State. A case will be registered depending on the statements of the victims and related information indicating an offence, the PI said.
