MAPUSA
Sample this. Policemen from neighbouring states suddenly make their presence felt at a jeweller’s shop and demands certain grams of gold from him and if he fails to oblige, threatens to implicate him in a false case of purchasing stolen valuables.
Stating that this is just one of the many incidents, the jewellers from Goa on Monday claimed that the police from Karnataka, Maharashtra and even from Hyderabad have been harassing their fraternity on the pretext of investigating gold theft cases and appealed with the State government to save them from this persecution.
As a sign of protest, the jewellers from Mapusa kept their shops shut on Monday.
“Police from other states come to Goa along with the gold robbers who randomly point at having sold stolen gold to jewellers in the State. These outstation policemen later harass the jewellers by demanding money or gold to settle the cases,” said Sameer Kudtarkar, president of the Goa Jewellers Association.
The President along with other members of the association was recounting the unusual problems faced by the jeweller community in the State while addressing the media in Mapusa.
Continuing, Kudtarkar informed that nearly 25 such harassment cases have come to light from across Goa in the last one and a half years.
He said these were cases which were brought to the notice of the association but there could be more because many times the members of the association shy away from complaining due to various factors including “feeling ashamed”.
The association president informed that in the past, they had complained about this problem to former chief minister late Manohar Parrikar and even the present Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
“The current Chief Minister had also written to the home ministry and the police department but the harassment continued. We will write to the Chief Minister Sawant again,” Kudtarkar said.
