The High Court of Telangana at Hyderabad rejected the anticipatory bail applications of Edwin Nunes, who has been at the centre of the recent developments at Curlies shack at Anjuna. Earlier, the Metropolitan Court had declined his plea on September 19. Edwin already has three FIRs registered against him with charges of operating a drug syndicate within and outside Goa. Last month, the man behind Curlies gave the Hyderabad police the slip by faking his Covid test. He has been hiding since then, although he has surfaced at family parties.
It sounds strange that Edwin has managed to hoodwink the police of both Goa and Hyderabad and remained in hiding for a sustained period. It is baffling why the police are not going after Edwin as they should have. It may be recalled the Hyderabad narco copy (N-NEW) had requested the Goa police to track down and arrest Nunes as he had no court protection in one of the cases. The visiting team had to return empty-handed after missing their man.
The ferocity with which the Goa police cracked down on drugs after the infamous Sonali Phogat case appears to have died down. Instead, the police are now contending with minor ganja seizures to keep the flame burning. The tacit connections between agents, distributors, restauranteurs, and men-in-khaki are beyond doubt. The current case of Edwin managing to give police the slip for almost two weeks raises strong suspicion of police being hand-in-glove with those in the narcotics business.
The FIRs lodged against Edwin are serious criminal offences linked to the alleged murder of Phogat. There is a charge of running a drug syndicate in Goa and outside; hence, there is enough reason the Goa police should be launching a manhunt. The purpose of an inter-state coordination meeting between police heads of seven States held late last month is lost because we see no intent on the ground. Lest we forget, the avowed objective of the inter-state police meeting was to go after drug mafias and share intelligence. Ironically, the Hyderabad police had raised apprehensions that confidential information and internal plans were being leaked out.
Cut into the recent Nagoa-Arpora stabbing case, and once again, the failure of police to crack down on the illegalities of gambling stares right in the face. A house owned by a politician's kin has been leased out to run an illegal business of gambling activities while those in the government are crying hoarse about tenant verification elsewhere and threatening action against landlords. The police must answer why they overlook illegal gambling dens, which are hotspots for notorious criminals. Is the hafta doing the cover-up for crimes and illegalities of the worst order? Then what kind of war against criminals is the police talking about?
The euphoria about police action appears very artificial and deceptive. The irony is that a force claiming credit for cracking cases in quick time and solving murder mysteries is finding it tough to get its hands on a man who is wanted, and the Goa police are making everyone believe they have no clue.
