PSI Gudlar is in jail for alleged nexus with Dudu
He sponsors football matches, attends birthday parties and marriagesacross four wards of Anjuna. He kisses small babies, hugs grandmas and evengives lifts to grandpas. Try enquiring about him and hostile glances greet you.He may be a hardened criminal and a drug lord according to the Police but forpeople in Anjuna, David Driham or simply Dudu is a popular neighbor. And hespeaks Konkani!
“People get upset if I attend one party and miss another. But the bestmoments are when people make good fish curry and ask me to come home and eat”says Dudu. Currently under trial for overstaying, Dudu is as much home as onecould be. He plays football and tennis with Anjuna locals.
Anjuna’s Anand Agarwadekar remembers Dudu since he was seven year old.“He is always around to help the locals. He also donates money for publicfunctions and celebrations”. He might have escaped the law and faces seriousdrug related offences but for the people of South Anjuna, Dudu is a fantasticneighbor.
“There are many foreigners like the English, Russians, Israelis wholive in Anjuna. They speak Konkani, have children attending local schools butDudu is the only guy who is in touch with villagers and is a part of us” saysHanumant Govekar, Dudu’s neighbor since 1998.
Dudu faces charges under the Narcotics Drugs and PsychotropicSubstances Act and had also jumped bail. He’s also charged with overstaying. Atala onthe other hand not only faces 16 cases back home in Israel but he also the keydrug link in the Police-Politician-Drug nexus.
Both Dudu and Atala, alleged drug lords look like cousins, balding,clean shaven and roam in identical Wagon R cars . While Dudu has adaptedhimself to the humdrum of a Goan village and is bit of a public figure, Atalais slightly reticent. Atala has been staying in a Siolim based housing complex for 3 months. Hespends his time meeting young boys in the neighbourhood and shops for fish andvegetable at the Siolim market.
“I live my life in Goa as normally as any other Goan. I hang out withmy local friends in the evening and sometimes go to play billiards”. says YanivBenaim alias Atala.
Quite at home in Goa, the duo may be fighting courtroom battles againstthe police. It remains to be seen if they are surviving due to the kindness oftheir neighbours or due to the connections made through the trade that madethem infamous.
