PANJIM, FEB 3
It’s now official. The car involved in an accident at Miramar in November 2010 was driven by none other than Deputy Superintendent of Police Mahesh Gaonkar himself.
Home Minister Ravi Naik made the revelation on the floor of the House on Wednesday.
On November 25, 2010 one Sainath Arsekar filed a complaint with the Panjim town police station that an unknown driver in a white Maruti Swift knocked him down on the road and sped away from the spot leaving him unconscious.
“During the course of investigation, it came to light that the Swift car belonged to M K Gaonkar, DySP and he was driving the said Swift car GA-06-D-1132 at the time of the incident”, Naik replied to an unstarred question tabled by Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar.
The minister said that the incident occurred on November 24, 2010 at about 10:30 pm near the Goa Science Centre when the Swift car driver knocked down Sainath on Hero Honda motorbike GA-01-L-8245 proceeding in the same direction.
A case was registered under Sections 279 (hit and run) and 337 of the Indian Penal Code and section 134 (a) (b) of the Motor Vehicles Act.
However, there was also a counter complaint by the senior police officer alleging that when he was returning home, he was chased by two or three bikers who hurled abuses at him and tried to overtake his car.
Both cases were registered. Panjim police arrested Sainath soon after he regained consciousness based on the counter complaint. But their alleged attempt to hush up the hit-and-run case was evident as there was no action taken on complaint made by Sainath.
While senior police officers refrained from making any statement, Deputy Superintendent of Police Deu Benaulikar had said that a case of ‘accident’ was registered pending investigation.
The officer said that he would not be in a position to identify the car driver unless the motorbike rider who was admitted in the Goa Medical College and Hospital gives his statement.
“We are yet to record the statement of the victim who can tell us the number of the car and other details”, he was quoted as saying on November 25, 2010.
DySP Gaonkar is the same officer who received accolades for arresting four Manipur-based militants including a high-profile woman on a tip-off from Manipur police in January 2011. The picture of the officer walking in style along with the arrested accused was flashed all over.
