PANAJI
The opposition parties in the State on Monday demanded an independent probe or a judicial inquiry into the allegations levied by proclaimed criminal Suleman Siddique Khan in the viral video, wherein he has claimed that two police teams escorted him out of the State. Siddique, escaped police custody, last week with the help of IRBn constable Amit Naik, who is currently in the jail.
The Congress party has also demanded intervention of the Goa Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai and that a judicial probe be ordered in the matter.
A joint delegation of Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), led by Congress leader Sunil Kawthankar and AAP spokesperson Valmiki Naik, met Goa DGP Alok Kumar on Monday calling for a thorough investigation into allegations made by Khan in the viral video, which was released to media by Khawthankar on Sunday late evening.
The delegation demanded that all police personnel named in the video be investigated by a specially constituted panel. They also urged the police to release CCTV footage of the day Khan escaped custody, emphasizing the need for transparency.
“The issue is very serious. DGP should release and make the CCTV footage of December 12- the day Khan escaped custody, viral otherwise the allegations levelled in the video will become even stronger. People have already lost trust in police,” AAP leader Valmiki Naik said.
Demanding resignation of the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who also holds Home Portfolio, Naik said that it is more than 15 hours and neither the CM nor any other Minister has issued any statement in the matter.
“Their silence shows that probably what that accused has claimed in the video is 100% Correct,” he added.
Congress Leader Sunil Kawthankar said that Suleman has claimed that he was beaten, threatened with an encounter by Goa Police, and coerced into transferring properties into other people’s names. He said that the Amit Naik, a former IRBn constable who attempted suicide while in police prison, was threatened with death, and should be given protection.
According to Kawthankar, the land grabbing case is becoming a link between the BJP, the police, and the land mafia; otherwise, it would be impossible for someone to elude the Crime Branch’s custody.
Meanwhile, while addressing a press conference, later in the afternoon, Congress leaders Yuri Alemao and Amit Patkar demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter. They demanded that all the police personnel named in the video should be suspended and an inquiry should be initiated against them.
“We demand immediate suspension of the police officials. There has to be a judicial inquiry,” Patkar said.
While Alemao added “people have lost faith in the police department and it's high time that the Governor intervenes in the administration”.
