Panaji: In a hush-hush move, the Goa Police today transferred the five policemen to Police Training School (PTS) after a viral video showed them demanding extortion money from a businessman. The Goa Forward Party (GFP) also slammed the government for allowing corruption within the department.
“Silence of Goa CM speaks volumes. The presence of extortion gangs operating in Goa Police is an indictment of Dr Pramod Sawant’s (CM) incompetence and weakness as Home Minister. Why is he quiet? Is there something he knows that Goans don’t? Or he oversees only petty cases,” GFP President Vijai Sardesai said reacting to the Goa Plus News story on the issue under the title “Govt’s deafening silence on extortion in police dept.”
His regional outfit too questioned the government’s intention to curb such offenses in the elite force, where a number of policemen are caught in unlawful activities. “Laughable! Dr Pramod Sawant and Goa Police who always boast of Goa’s high detection rate failed to detect extortion gangs in their own dept. Sheer incompetence? Or is it because extortion has become so institutionalized and habitual that its not a crime anymore?” reads a post on the party’s official Twitter handle.
Sources said that instead of taking strict action against the Police Inspector, and four head constables and constables of the Anti Terrorist Squad who were caught on camera demanding and accepting the extortion amount; the department has silently transferred them to the PTS. The amount they demanded from an online gaming businessman was Rs 10 lakh which was brought down to Rs 5 lakh. After a hue and cry, the entire cash was handed back to the businessman complainant with just an inquiry ordered against them. Two Senior officers to the level of Superintendents of Police are allegedly involved in the offense.
