The Goa police Wednesday claimed to have arrested an alleged drug peddler and recovered drugs worth Rs.4 lakh but also got an unexpected bonus — they seized gold worth nearly Rs.7 lakh from him.
The suspect was arrested from Anjuna in North Goa. Incidentally, at the time of the arrest, the peddler Sadanand Chipmaker, 37, [...]
The Goa police, under pressure for their failure to check rampant sale of drugs in the state, Sunday blamed a ‘hectic’ December for not being able to check drug trade in north Goa.
Addressing a press conference at the district headquarters near Panaji to announce late Saturday night’s four anti-narcotics raids late, Superintendent of Police (SP) [...]
Goa Home Minister Ravi Naik Wednesday ordered an enquiry into the state police spokesperson’s recent statements admitting to drug trade in the state.
Naik has been on the backfoot over rampant drug abuse in and along the coastal tourism hubs of Goa during the tourist season with the death of 23-year-old Meha Bahuguna due to suspected [...]
The Goa police Tuesday gave a clean chit to a police inspector who had faced the charge of forcing a Russian resident to tone down her rape complaint against a Goa politician to molestation.
The clean chit followed a formal ‘departmental inquiry’ in which the Russian victim’s statement was not even recorded.
‘I don’t even [...]
There were no specific intelligence inputs that Mumbai terror suspect David Coleman Headley had visited Goa last year, a senior police official has said.
‘We do not know. We have received no specific intelligence input on Headley’s Goa visit,’ Superintendent of Police (CID) Atmaram Deshpande said here Monday when asked about the Pakistani-American terror suspect’s Goa [...]
Panaji (Goa), Dec 30 (ANI): Goa, which boasts of colonial Portuguese charm, sun-kissed beaches and great seafood, is gearing up to welcome domestic and international tourists durind New Year celebrations.
Ahead of the New Year, hotel occupancy is [...]
Panaji, Dec 26 (IANS) The Goa police have arrested a taxi driver, accused of attempted rape by two Russian women on Christmas night, but has charged him with molestation instead.
Pramod Shrikant Shirodkar was arrested in the early hours of Saturday and booked under sections 509, 323 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), dealing [...]
Panaji, Dec 24 (IANS) On the heels of US based terror suspect David Coleman Headley’s reported visit to the state earlier this year, a wary Goa is all set to usher in Christmas celebrations amid high security.
After planting armed bunkers on its beaches last year amidst a heightened state of alert following the Mumbai terror [...]
Panaji, Dec 22 (IANS) Sanatan Sanstha, a Hindu rightwing group whose members have been linked to the Diwali eve blast in Goa, Tuesday alleged harassment of its women members by people residing near its premises.
Virendra Marathe, administrator of the group’s ashram at Ramnathi, 25 km from here, said at a press conference here that ‘anti-social [...]
Panaji, Dec 21 (IANS) Police here Monday refused to acknowledge that the Diwali-eve blasts in Goa had any links with Sadhvi Pragya Singh and Col. Shrikant Purohit, accused in the September 2008 blast in Malegaon.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) K.D. Singh also denied media reports that quoted him as saying that the Goa blast had [...]
Panaji, Dec 18 (IANS) Bacardi Blast, a two-day dance-music festival, begins here Saturday, a day after Goa Home Minister Ravi Naik told the state legislative assembly that Pakistan-based terror groups wanted to execute ’spectacular violence’ in the state.
The organisers of the show, however, said that ample precautions have been taken as far as the security [...]
Panaji, Dec 18 (IANS) A month after seven police officers left Goa police red-faced by creating a stir aboard an offshore casino, state Home Minister Ravi Naik clarified that they had not only visited the vessel but had also dined on the vessel; compliments of the management.
Naik has, however, claimed in a statement that [...]
Panaij, Dec 17 (IANS) Goa Home Minister Ravi Naik Thursday told the Goa legislative assembly that Pakistan-based terrorists groups could indulge in ’spectacular violence’ in Goa.
‘Available intelligence inputs indicate that a strong desire is entertained by various Pak-based terrorist groups to indulge in spectacular violence in Goa,’ Naik said in a written reply to a [...]
Panaji, Dec 17 (IANS) The Goa tourism department is in the process of setting up a Special Tourist Security Force (STSF) to tackle the rising number of crimes against tourists in the state.
The government’s intent in setting up the STSF has been articulated in the annual administration report tabled in the Goa assembly Tuesday by [...]
Panaji, Dec 17 (IANS) The Diwali eve blast in Goa that killed two people has been formally handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), police here said Thursday.
Four people associated with the Hindu rightwing group Sanatan Sanstha have been arrested in connection with the Oct 16 blast in Margao.
‘NIA has intimated the South [...]
Panaji/New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS) A Congress MP’s indiscrete remarks about the alleged rape of a Russian woman in Goa led to outrage Wednesday with the Russian consul general writing to the state government, an embarrassed Congress distancing itself and a clamour for a public apology from the MP.
Goa’s lone Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik [...]
Panaji, Dec 16 (IANS) John Fernandes, accused of raping a Russian woman in Goa, has gone missing after his anticipatory bail was cancelled by the high court Tuesday, police said Wednesday.
Fernandes, who allegedly raped the 25-year-old woman in the wee hours of Dec 2, had been granted anticipatory bail by a local court earlier.
Speaking [...]
Panaji, Dec 11 (IANS) Even as state Tourism Minister Micky Pacheco has expressed fear that increasing number of rapes and assaults on tourists would soon make Goa the rape capital of India, another cabinet minister, Churchill Alemao, has blamed foreigners for roaming in Goa at unearthly hours.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function, [...]
Panaji, Dec 11 (IANS) Confusion prevailed over the status of the Diwali-eve blast in Goa, with Chief Minister Digambar Kamat Friday saying the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been handed over the probe and the state police saying they were not aware of this yet.
Kamat, speaking to reporters, said that the decision to hand over [...]
Panaji, Dec 11 (IANS) Worried by the increasing number of rapes and assaults on tourists in Goa, especially foreigners, state Tourism Minister Mickky Pacheco has said that Goa may soon ‘gain reputation as the rape capital of India’.
In his letter to state Chief Minister Digambar Kamat Thursday, Pacheco has said that ‘an impression is gaining [...]
Panaji, Dec 10 (IANS) The Russian consulate in Mumbai has asked the Goa chief minister to ensure proper investigation into the alleged rape of a 25-year-old Russian girl by a local politician, and warned that such incidents ’spoil the image of Goa as a safe place for tourists’.
In his letter dated December 7, a copy [...]
Panaji, Dec 10 (ANI): The case involving the rape of a Russian girl by a Goa politician has taken a new twist with Goa Police deciding not to challenge the bail plea of accused John Fernandes.
The police said they plan to challenge the anticipatory bail granted to Fernandes.
The Goa Crime Branch had arrested Fernandes on [...]
Panaji, Dec 9 (IANS) The 13 angry, livid scars on her body are testimony to her rape allegedly by a local politician John Fernandes Dec 1. Nine days later, the 25-year-old Russian is now counting the mental scars left behind by a completely insensitive and corrupt Goa police.
The victim has been running from pillar to [...]
Panaji, Dec 8 (IANS) Goa Police Tuesday denied receiving any inputs from central intelligence agencies about the presence of terror suspect David Coleman Headley in Goa earlier this year.
‘The Goa police is not in receipt of any such information about Headley being in Goa,’ Superintendent of Police Atmaram Deshpande said at a press conference.
Asked [...]
Panaji, Dec 7 (IANS) Goa police has been pulled up for not sending details of the Diwali-eve bomb blast investigations to the National Investigating Agency (NIA), set up in 2008 to investigate terror-related crimes in the country.
State chief secretary Sanjiv Srivastava admitted that the Goa police had bypassed the NIA and sent updates of the [...]
Panaji, Dec 6 (IANS) Enough is enough, Goa Tourism Minister Francisco alias Mickky Pacheco said, severely criticising the Goa police for harassing a Russian rape victim.
Speaking to reporters, Mickky said Goa invited tourists from Russia and all over the world to its beaches, only to end up being harassed by the authorities here.
‘Is this [...]
Panaji, Dec 5 (IANS) A Goa police head constable has been literally caught with his pants down during duty hours.
Head constable Santosh Naik was suspended after he was found guilty during an enquiry for indulging in oral sex with a call girl while he was on duty in a police control room van in the [...]
Panaji, Dec 4 (IANS) A Russian woman, who claimed a local politician tried to rape her, Friday said the Goa police threatened her not to pursue the case or else she will lose her visa.
Vikram Varma, legal representative of the Russian consulate in Goa, told reporters that officials at the Colva police station had threatened [...]
Panaji, Nov 19 (IANS) Goa Police Thursday dismissed media reports about a possible terror threat to the forthcoming International Film Festival of India (IFFI) which gets underway here Nov 23.
Speaking to reporters in Panaji, Superintendent of Police Atmaram Deshpande said the state police had received no such terror-related input from the intelligence agencies.
‘We are [...]
Panaji, Nov 18 (IANS) The Goa police Wednesday admitted that the body of Russian teenager Elena Sukhonova, who was found dead along a railway track in May, has decomposed beyond recognition. A relative of the girl has blamed the mortuary where her body has been kept for seven months.
‘The body which was in cut pieces [...]
