PANAJI
A year after he was almost stung by cyber frauds, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has been dragged by some “errant” cops at the Patradevi check-post into their demand for a bribe.
The policemen -- who are soon to be identified -- posted at the border check post are being probed for demanding a bribe from a businessman in CM’s name.
P K Patil, a Kolhapur-based entrepreneur was returning to his home village after a work trip to Goa, over a month ago. Accompanied by his business partner, Patil was stopped by some policemen at Patradevi and slapped with a penalty of Rs 500 for a traffic violation.
The Goan has reliably learnt that the car occupants paid the fine in cash and collected the challan copy to proceed to their destination.
The businessmen were not allowed to go until they paid Rs 1,000 into the account of a nearby eatery stall operator. “The cops demanded to 'Google Pay' the amount… It was a bribe demand…because for no reason whatsoever, the amount was to be credited into the account of an eatery operator. When Patil sought to know the reason, they were told that the money “goes to the Chief Minister,” the source said.
Without further inquiries, Rs 1,000 was paid online. The issue wasn’t forgotten as Patil sent an email to complain to the Office of Chief Minister and Director General of Police Jaspal Singh narrating the incident. Startled by the grave allegation, the CM directed the department to identify these policemen who are fearlessly running the racket in his name.
“An inquiry has been initiated,” the source said adding that the complainant is willing to identify the errant khaki men.
The inquiry could however face a setback since the CCTV footage that recorded the incident is reportedly not available. “Unfortunately, there’s no CCTV footage. The recording at the check-post is archived for 45 days only whereas the security cameras installed at the police stations store the video images for one-and-half year or more,” an officer said lamenting the difference meted out to the happenings at the police stations and the check-posts. The inquiry team has now sought the assistance of cyber experts to retrieve the data.
This isn’t the first case wherein CM is targeted by criminal and corrupt minds. In 2019, Sawant had warned of strict action against the culprits on learning that his name was being used by some people to demand bribes for securing a government job. He appealed to the citizens to approach the police or inform his office if any government official or persons demanded a bribe.
In November 2021, unknown persons tried to phish Sawant's Aadhaar number when he was in Delhi on an official visit. The caller told the CM that his bank account would be frozen if he did not share his Aadhaar details. Sawant reported the matter to the Cyber Crime Cell of Goa Police.
In July 2021, the CM’s Facebook account was hacked and requests for money were sent through a cloned account. A month later, Goa Police arrested one Mohammad Shakir from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh for cloning the social networking account of several politicians including the CM and the bureaucrats.
