Thursday 28 Mar 2024

Accident injuries didn’t deter him from keeping date with Maina-Curtorim cops

THE GOAN NETWORK | NOVEMBER 29, 2020, 12:32 AM IST

MARGAO
A swollen eye, four-five stitches on the forehead and cuts and bruises all over the body would have made any normal person stay home for medical treatment. No medical practitioner would have denied a medical certificate, a document that would help skip any appointment or appearance anywhere.

Goyant Kollso Naka Co-convenor Abhijit Prabhudesai, however, decided otherwise as he kept the date with the Maina-Curtorim police station on 10.30 am on Friday.

The activist met with a road accident on Thursday night while returning home – just hours before he was scheduled to appear before the Maina-Curtorim police station at 10.30 am on Friday for an inquiry into the Chandor midnight vigil protest.

The accident left him injured, with a deep cut requiring around 4-5 stitches, while the fall left his left eye swollen and a cut on his face and bruises all over the body.

He, however, made his presence felt at the Margao district police headquarters, even before the protesters could trickle outside the Maina-Curtorim police station. The injuries on Abhijit’s face and forehead were the talking point amongst the activists and anti-coal protesters as he walked inside the police station sharp at 10.30 am where station in-charge PI Shivram Vaingankar was waiting for his arrival.

Said Abhijit Prabhudesai: “I am a law-abiding citizen. My absence would have sent a wrong signal that I have deliberately stayed away from the police inquiry. We have been cooperating with the police and will continue to cooperate.”

He continued: “The activists, protesters and Goans at large are not against the men in uniform. We are fighting this anti-coal battle for the people of entire Goa, including the police and their families.”

While Abhijit was holed up inside the Maina Curtorim police station, one could hear the protesters telling the men-in-uniform manning the entrance gate that the ongoing battle will save the families and children of everyone, including the police personnel.

DGP Mukesh Kumar Meena and DySP Kiran Podwal, however, came under strident criticism from the anti-coal protesters. While DGP’s controversial support to the three linear projects has not found favour with the activists and the people at large, DySP Kiran Podwal has come under the scanner of the protesters for riding roughshod at the people at Davorlim. He has been accused of using foul language and threatening the protesters of slapping false cases that would prevent them from travelling abroad for employment.



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