the goan I network
MARGAO
He further said that he is ready to face the court as and when the police file a chargesheet against him.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the launch of the Prime Minister’s crop insurance scheme for farmers, Tawadkar said he was falsely implicated when he had tried to intervene in the incident on humanitarian grounds.
“The incident occurred when I was proceeding towards the forest office in Cotigao when I heard cries of people inside. When I entered the office, I found two persons injured with blood on their faces. These two people were neither supporters nor workers, but they were hailing from Karwar. I questioned the forest officials for assaulting the duo. I firmly deny that I have forcibly taken the duo from the custody of the police. May be the forest officials registered a case against me knowing they were in trouble for assaulting the two persons,” Tawadkar claimed.
Moreover, he pointed out that the case was registered against him at the Canacona police station in 2009 when the Congress was in power, indicating that the case may have been registered against him to settle political scores.
Incidentally, the Range Forest Officer Paresh Parab, however, in his complaint before the Canacona police stated that the forest officials had detained two persons from Karwar, Manohar Padwalkar and Gajanan Naik for their unauthorized entry into the Wild Life Sanctuary at Cotigao. “While the duo were detained on the relevant day at around 4.30 pm, the RFO in his complaint alleged that Tawadkar along with some persons came to the spot and allegedly forcibly took the two accused from their custody at around 8 pm,” the complaint stated.
Based on the complaint, the Canacona police had registered a case against Tawadkar in 2009 under section 143, 147, 451, 353, 224, 225 read with section 149 of the IPC.
While Tawadkar made light of the incident saying it was a minor incident, what has raised many an eyebrows
in police circles is the inordinate delay by Superintendent of Police, South Shekhar Prabhudessai to give sanction to the Canacona police to
file chargesheet against
the minister.
