PANAJI
The Hyderabad (Telangana) police have activated their sources to track the whereabouts of wanted drug traders from Goa as it is determined to chargesheet the inter-state smuggling case after their custodial interrogation.
Edwin Nunes, Tukaram Salgaonkar alias Nana, Vikas Naik alias Vicky, Ramesh Chauhan, and Sanjay Govekar have been on the run ever since the southern state busted the high-profile racket.
The Hyderabad police’s intelligence teams are on their toes gathering inputs considering that its counterparts in Goa have not been of much help. “We have to get them. We will seek the assistance of Goa Police, as we are otherwise doing so to arrest these accused but we are also working on some vital leads gathered independently. We have our sources. The case will be chargesheeted only after we apprehend them (accused named in the FIR),” a senior officer told The Goan.
Goa Police, on the other hand, has maintained it is offering assistance needed to arrest the peddlers.
Amid an ongoing probe, the owner of Hill Top nightclub in Vagator John Stephen D’Souza aka Steve and Anjuna’s Pritesh Borkar was granted conditional bail this week. While D’Souza spent around a month in jail, Borkar remained in custody for over two months.
Asked if their bail is a setback to Osmania University Police, the investigating team is not perturbed. “They have been interrogated during their custody in Hyderabad. Moreover, they cannot escape trial,” the officer said.
Borkar, 36, was among the first to be arrested after the joint team of Hyderabad Narcotics Enforcement Wing and Osmania University Police recovered two ecstasy pills, five LSD blots, four grams of MDMA, etc from his possession, on August 16.
With the two bails; Nunes withdrew his anticipatory bail plea before the Supreme Court and filed a fresh application in the High Court of Telangana in Hyderabad. The petition is slated for hearing on October 31. “We have prepared a strong case to oppose the anticipatory bail plea. The accused persons, not only Nunes, will either have to surrender or they will surely be arrested. Our case is not closed,” the officer said.
During the investigation, around 174 sub-peddlers and 600 customers were identified. Of the total consumers, 160-odd are in Telangana. Insisting on rehabilitation of drug consumers, the Hyderabad Police have sent 80 of them for de-addiction treatment, so far.
“As per a provision in the NDPS Act, consumers have immunity from being prosecuted if they undergo de-addiction. We aim at ensuring that such people do not go back to consuming the contraband substance, and as such, we send them for de-addiction. They will be discharged after successfully passing the drug tests,” he said.
