VASCO: A Telangana registered vehicle was stuck in the sand at Bogmalo beach, near Vasco on Tuesday. Incidentally, the car carrying tourists was having an MLA sticker on it.
After locals confronted the tourists, they first said that the Toyota Fortuner car belonged to MLA but later removed the sticker from the front glass even as the locals suspected it to be a fake. Bogmalo-Chicolna Village Panchayat Sarpanch Sankalp Mahale immediately informed the Vasco police about the incident and demanded stern action against the tourists.
Earlier, the tourists claimed that the vehicle belonged to Telangana MLA and entered into an argument with the panchayat members claiming that there were no signboards on the beach indicating that vehicles cannot be driven on the beach. But they soon beat a hasty retreat and apologised after seeing more people backing panchayat members.
They also removed the MLA sticker. Even though driving on the beach is prohibited in the State, people continue to drive their vehicles on beaches endangering the flora and fauna as well as lives of beach goers.
The Vasco police arrested the driver Ismail Fatrusaab from Karnataka and have registered a case against him under Sections 279 and 336 of IPC and under Section 184 of Motor Vehicle Act and PSI Ganesh Matondkar is conducting investigations under the guidance of Vasco PI Kapil Nayak. The police also removed the car stuck in the sand with a crane and brought it to the police station.
