Goa writes to Centre seeking DGP’s transfer as home demolition row refuses to blow over
Goa writes to Centre seeking DGP’s transfer as home demolition row refuses to blow over
Goa Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goel has written to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), recommending the transfer of state DGP Jaspal Singh, a day after a purported report was submitted to the state government claiming that Singh “pressured” his subordinates at Anjuna police station to allow razing a house in North Goa’s Assagao, The Indian Express has learnt.
"The state government has written to the Centre recommending the DGP's transfer," said an official who did not wish to be named.
The report, purportedly written by a policeman from Anjuna police station, was submitted to Goel, claiming that the DGP was “continuously pressuring” the police officer to allow the demolition of a house in Assagao and warned of “consequences” if the work didn’t begin in 10 minutes. Singh has denied the allegations, calling them "baseless, invented and preposterous".
The police had registered an FIR in the case based on a complaint by Prinsha Agarwadekar who, along with her husband, claims to be “owners-in-possession” of the said house since 2001. She claimed that her landlord had “fraudulently” entered into a sale with one of the suspects, a Mumbai-based woman, who has been booked.
In her complaint, Agarwadekar claimed she and her husband were in their house in Bairo Alto Assagao on June 22 when 15 people barged in, claiming they had orders to knock it down. At least eight have been been arrested so far.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had directed Goel to conduct an inquiry into the allegations, following which three police officers at Anjuna police station were suspended.
The purported report quoted the DGP as saying that the Mumbai-based woman was the owner of the property and that there was “no need to take action into the complaint”. The purported report stated that on the day of the incident, one of the police officers received a call from the DGP asking him “why the work of demolition” had been stopped.
The incident has snowballed into a political slugfest, with the Opposition demanding that a high-level inquiry committee, headed by a retired High Court judge, probe into the case and alleged that the act was perpetrated by “land and real-estate mafia”.
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