PANAJI
The Goa Police have been caught in another embarrassing situation. This time involving the Pernem police with its station in-charge accused of neglecting a woman entrepreneur’s complaint of molestation and assault.
The reason behind this incident is believed to be a long standing property dispute between a group of locals allegedly led by one Baburao Mandrekar, and the victim Pramila Dewan who runs a holistic retreat centre at Pernem in partnership with her husband Vivek.
After failing to ensure registration of her complaint despite repeated pleas and evidence, Pramila on May 2 approached the Women PS alleging that some armed goons trespassed into her property, dragged her out of the bathroom and assaulted the couple. Justifying her decision to lodge a complaint out of the crime jurisdiction, Pramila charged the Pernem Police Inspector with “refusing” to register an FIR.
The incident comes days after the department took action against three inspectors “ Prajyot Phadte (suspended), Lady PI Sandhya Gupta (transferred) and Vikram Naik (issued show cause notice) for allegedly delaying registering FIRs into offences against two teenagers at their respective police stations.
In the present case, Pramila has further accused the Pernem PI of warning her to distance herself from the matter given that the goons are politically connected.
“…It was really shocking that the PI of Pernem PS refused to lodge an FIR against those who have assaulted me and my husband, tore my clothes in front of 50-70 people, molested me, and attempted to kill me and my husband. The Pernem PI to the reasons best known to him further warned me that if I pursue the matter further then I will be in trouble, as the people involved are highly influential and politically connected,” reads an extract of her complaint letter, copy of which is in possession of The Goan.
The business couple and one Ashish Pandey, all of whom are the trustees of Dunagiri Foundation, had taken a plot on a long term lease from Mandrekar in 2010. Pramila claimed that the trustees registered the property in the Mamlatdar office at Pernem in 2014 for a 30 years lease subsequent to which it was accordingly developed. The construction was styled as Samata Retreat Centre, providing yoga and alternative healing.
The complainant stated that the problem arose when one Pandu Parsekar was arrested for some crimes and after his release, provoked Mandrekar against allowing the operations of the centre.
“To this day, Pandu Parsekar remains the main culprit who has orchestrated the entire sequence of criminal mischief,” she said, adding that the couple was attacked last year as well, to which Pernem police had again failed to take action.
