Team Herald
PANJIM: In yet another blot on the State police force, extortion charges against five staff of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has left the department red-faced, with the men in uniform failing to register an First Information Report (FIR) against the rogue cops allegedly captured on third eye.
Five policemen, including a senior officer of the ATS, are facing extortion charges levelled by an online gaming operator. The incident, which took place last week, has sullied the image of the already beleaguered force.
Police sources suggest that the officials involved in the extortion case have been transferred to the Police Training School (PTS), Valpoi as an interim action in the matter. But they are yet to be relieved.
It is reportedly learnt that the CCTV footage shows five ATS staffers including a senior cop visiting the office of an online gaming company at Margao and noticing Rs 27 lakh in the table drawer. The men in plain clothes then threatened to book the owner for money laundering and claimed to be ATS officers. They then demanded their pound of flesh while, the senior officer allegedly took Rs five lakh from the gaming operator while, the juniors pocketed Rs 5.5 lakh.
However, the incident was captured on CCTV and the staffers of the agency immediately verified the CCTV footage and found that they were from the Goa Police Department. The agency staff then contacted their proprietor in Delhi, who knocked the doors of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who contacted Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, creating ripples in the State.
Sawant immediately asked DGP Jaspal Singh to probe the incident. Sources revealed that the senior officer was pulled up and was directed to return the cash or face the music. The senior officer returned the cash wrapped in a cloth bag.
Three head constables and two constables were transferred with immediate effect on Wednesday while, the senior officer has reportedly proceeded on sick leave.
When questioned about the incident, DGP Jaspal Singh did not deny the occurrence of such an incident.
The operator posted the video on social media, which soon went viral which was later forwarded to the Union Minister.
Though the above incident appears to be a case of extortion, sources hinted at a nexus between the police and gaming operator and money laundering activity.
As the gaming operator has developed cold feet in registering the offence against the rogue cops, what transpired between them is yet to be ascertained and issue of money laundering cannot be ruled out.
In July last year, a group of policemen were placed under suspension after they refused to foot the bill at a restaurant at Sangolda. The policemen threw their weight around when asked to pay the bill amount.
The mere transfer of five ATS cops has now raised eyebrows in several quarters, questioning the favouritism by the top police brass in shielding them despite CCTV evidence doing its round on social media platforms.
Reacting to the extortion episode, former Minister and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai tweeted: SILENCE OF @goacm SPEAKS VOLUMES. The presence of extortion gangs operating in @Goapolice1091 is an indictment of @DrPramodPSawant’s incompetence and weakness as #HomeMinister. Why is he quiet? Is there something he knows that #Goans don’t? Or he oversees only petty cases?
