Margao has been shaken and stirred by the constant robberies for the last six months now. To add to the woes, desecration and vandalism of crosses and temples and religious structures has also returned to worry the citizens. The Police have been left red faced to such an extent that the Deputy Inspector General of Police had to specially address the meeting of all the Police Inspectors, Police Sub Inspectors and Assistant Sub Inspectors and Constables to buckle up and stop the incidents.
The latest robbery, which can be termed as a wholesale robbery, is the PWD Quarters robbery wherein seven residential quarters and two offices of the PWD were robbed in a single night by the unknown culprits. The Police are now given to understand that the level of preparedness and the fearlessness of the robberies showcased in the incidents can only be a job of a skilled and well-planned gang which operates in shuffling all over the targeted areas.
The incidents in Margao have particularly targeted Borda areas for the last one month and have surprisingly pin-pointed only residences from which families have been out of town or out of the state. Amidst wholesale robberies the Police, however, have not got their hands on any suspicious accused or any persons in their investigations.
The Police Inspector of Margao, C L Patil, has confirmed that this can only be the job of a well planned and synchronised gang which has kept an eye on all their targets and strike when the residences are locked.
The Deputy Inspector General of Police, Rupinder Kumar, who was in Margao for a review of the South Goa Police, has confirmed the fact that it is a job of a planned and organised gang. When asked what are the police going to stop the same, the DIG said, “There is no doubt that it is the job of an organised gang and my men here in South Goa are ensuring that the incidents don’t continue. I have gone ahead and advised them to gather information on these incidents, on their pattern areas and other vital details so that the incidents are stopped from happening any further,” said DIG Kumar.
Since January 2017 there have been 16 reported robberies in and around Margao and other areas of South. The pattern suggests that the gangs execute robberies only at the beginning and the end of the month.
The Former DySP of Salcete and now promoted SP Dinraj Govenkar has meanwhile promised to increase the night patrol which apparently has been missing for several months.
Meanwhile the Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, who had planned to meet the Superintendent of Police over the robbery threat, met the Maina Curtorim Police Inspector along with several locals from the Housing Board area of Margao. Reginaldo said, “These cases look like it is being deliberately done. We are elected representatives and the police shouldn’t wait for us to tell them what to do. Fit cameras where required, increase vigil where required, but finally it is for the police who have to do it,” said Reginaldo.
“It is deliberate to create confusion in the minds of the people with elections on the mind,” alleged Reginaldo. “I have informed the police that the intelligence has failed and advised them to act before the things go out of hand,” Reginaldo added.
The Superintendent of Police, meanwhile, inspected the vandalism sites and has had a meeting with the Chief Minister in the evening over the vandalism issue.
However, sources in the police have suggested though the robberies have got out of hand the desecration and vandalism is more of a political criminal issue which has begun now.
