the goan I network
MARGAO
The South Goa Sessions Court on Monday held guilty Police Sub-Inspector, Prasanna Bhagat under the Prevention of Corruption Act in the infamous 2011 Cabo de Rama drowning illegal gratification case.
PSI Bhagat, however, has been acquitted of the charges of extortion slapped against him by the police for allegedly putting fear into the students and parents that their children will be booked under section 304 of the IPC.
The Sessions court headed by Principal Sessions Judge B P Deshpande will now hear PSI Bhagat on the point of sentence on January 30.
The Cuncolim police had registered the case against PSI Bhagat under Section 7 and 13(i)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and under Section 384 and 388 of the IPC on July 11, 2011. The case was later investigated by three DySPs, including DySP Umesh Gaonkar, DySP Lawrence D’Souza and DySP Mahesh Gaonkar.
In this case, the police claimed that a group of college friends had on July 8, 2011 proceeded to Cabo-de-Rama near the fort for a picnic. At around 3 pm, while they were standing on a rock to click photograph by the side of the Arabian Sea, a huge wage hit the rock and pulled the young friends into the sea. One of them managed to swim ashore while three of them were struggling. One girl student was rescued. One dead body was found and other one was missing.
On July 11, the Cuncolim police station received a note from Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Margao, appending therewith a note of SP, South, enclosing the complaint of Clyde Gomes, a resident of Colva against PSI Bhagat of Cuncolim police station complaining that on July 8, from 3.50 pm to 6 pm on July 9 at Cuncolim, the accused PSI while discharging his official duty and conducting enquiry/investigation into the Cabo de Rama drowning case allegedly accepted illegal gratification by putting into fear the student and their parents stating that he has to apply Section 304 of the IPC against their children and will put them behind bars, who came to the police station for the purpose of enquiry into the drowning case allegedly demanded an amount of Rs 1 lakh.
During the investigation conducted by DySP Umesh Gaonkar, a search was conducted in the office room and rest room of the PSI and had also attached the Maruti Swift car under panchanama.
In the brief facts of the case, the Cuncolim police had claimed that the evidence collected during the investigation of the case discloses that the accused, who is a government servant, and while discharging his lawful duty, extorted/accepted illegal gratification by putting into fear the student and their parents, who had called at the Cuncolim police station for the purpose of inquiry into the unnatural death (drowning).
Public Prosecutor Ladislav Fernandes, who represented the prosecution, said the court would hear the accused PSI on the point of sentence on January 30. He said the prosecution had examined around 21 witnesses in support of the case.
