Panaji (Goa): The State police are in no mood to act lenient against the Merces assailants, three of whom are cooling their heels behind bars while the fourth accused is still at large. Rape convict Lawrence Dias and kidnapping accused Suraj Shetye and Vishal Golatkar are remanded to six days of police custody for the attack on a busload of Mumbai-based passengers on Wednesday.
Considering their criminal background, the North Goa Police has decided to initiate externment proceedings against them. “I will submit a report (detailing the incident involving the trio) to the North Collector to extern them from the district. Once they are out on bail in the present case, we will begin the process of their externment,” Superintendent of Police, North District, Kartik Kashyap told this reporter. At the same time the district police have already moved the high court seeking to cancel the bail to Dias, and district court urging cancelling bail to the other two in the previous cases.
While the probe in the brutal attack is on fast track, the North Magistrate is yet to conclude hearing into seven externment proceedings against other notorious criminals. Hearing into the matter against Ritesh alias Ritu Venkatesh Nagvenkar, Joseph Sequeira, Zenito Cardozo, Imran Gani Bepari, Paulo Santan D’Cruz and Malik Mohd Kadroli are pending before the Collectorate. The tariq pe tariq situation is also evident in the case of goon Yusuf Gulab Shaikh alias Rama Naik, who was accused of assaulting Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo near on December 4, 2014. Six months after the incident, the police had submitted a report for his externment but the case is pending since then.
A total 12 externment proceedings were submitted to the North Magistrate since the year 2012, of which only Cleofas Fernandes, second accused in the attack on Lobo, was externed for two years in an order released on September 4, 2015.
The State police identified 161 habitual offenders of which 67 are in the north and 94 in South Goa, during a recent survey.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has asked the police force to crack down on all the anti social elements while also warning to hold police inspectors accountable for failing to curb criminal activities in their areas.
Meanwhile, the arrested Merces accused, all of whom are unemployed and school drops out are undergoing custodial interrogation and their houses are being searched. The four local goons are booked for attempting to murder the tourists who were returning to their hometown on the day of the incident. 11 tourists were injuries including three who suffered fractures. The 47 family members also included children as young as five year old, who also witnessed the act.
Team TNV
