Team Herald
MAPUSA: North Goa Taxi Owners Association spokesperson Bappa Korgaonkar and member Sunil Naik were arrested and released on bail by Porvorim Police, on Saturday.
According to the sources, the duo were booked under Section 143 Unlawful Assembly, 147, 443, 504, 323, 427, 379 R/W 149 of Indian Penal Court.
According to a complaint, the incident occurred on April 23, between 5 pm and 8 pm at Jennifer Villa near Rita Bar and Restaurant, Nerul, when the alleged accused persons allegedly trespassed in the rented villa of the complainant and abused, assaulted the complainant and his colleagues Ranjan Jena, Manish Padyal and others and further committed a theft of a mobile handset.
The alleged accused also damaged articles and vehicles causing loss to the complainant.
A complaint was filed against Bappa Korgaonkar, Sunil Naik, Ishant and more 17 unknown persons.
Korgaonkar said, ”Since Section 144 CrPC is imposed in the State, we stepped down from our agitations. On Friday, a film shooting was going on at Nerul and since there were hundreds of people present at the shooting spot, we went to question whether Section 144 CrPC is not applicable to them. However, after some time, a quarrel broke out between them and our boys following which they came and started assaulting us. We then rushed to the police station since one of our colleagues got injured and on Saturday morning they got us arrested.”
“I want to question the government whether Section 144 CrPC is applicable only to the Goans and not ‘outsiders’. Today we were produced before the court and released on bail along with a bond of Rs 10,000 each. We have also been told that we should not participate in any gathering and if found our bail will be cancelled. We still request the government to look into this issue of taxi owners and solve it as soon as possible,” Korgaonkar added.
“The government is somehow misusing the government machinery and arresting the agitating taxi owners. By getting cab aggregators and app-based taxis, the government is killing the business of local taxi owners. We are ready to install meters but the government should not break this agitation,” Yogesh Govekar, a taxi owner said.
“We stepped backed from our agitation due to rising COVID cases. However, we have continued our agitation by staying off the road at our homes. We have not stepped back because we are scared of the government. After one or two months when COVID situation comes under control, we will again gather at Azad Maidan with due permissions of the authorities,” another taxi owner said.