PANAJI/PERNEM
Pernem Police on Thursday arrested two canoe operators, Robert Fernandes (48) and 46-year-old Ashok Mulgaonkar, and five labourers on charges of extracting sand from the Terekhol River at Ugvem-Pernem without valid permissions from authorities.
The arrests come after a gunshot incident on Monday night that left two of the labourers injured.
The victims, Ramrishi Paswan (54) and 37-year-old Lalbabu Goud (37), sustained injuries to from the gun shots and were shifted from the Mapusa District Hospital to the GMC hospital at Bambolim for further treatment.
Investigations revealed that the attack occurred while the labourers were extracting sand without valid permissions under the Goa, Daman & Diu Minor Minerals Concession Rules, 1985. Following the gunfire, Pernem Police registered a case under Sections 109, 3 of the Arms Act. A subsequent case was filed against Fernandes, Mulgaonkar, and the labourers under Sections 303(2),3(5) BNS & Sec 3, 62(2) of The Goa Daman & Diu Minor Minerals Concession Rules 1985, on charges of illegal sand mining activity without valid permission on the intervening night of October 27 and 28.
The arrested labourers are Sonelal Chaudhary, Munna Bin, Sonu Paswan, Vikas Bin, and Yogendra Chaudhary, all natives of Bhojpur-Bihar.
Meanwhile, over 35 armed holders were interrogated, and more than 35 weapons were checked with the assistance of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team. Police are continuing investigations to identify and trace the persons responsible for the gunfire.
Further investigation of both the cases are being carried under the guidance of Pernem PI Sachin Lokre and overall supervision of SP North Rahul Gupta, IPS.
