After dilly-dallying for the last seven years, the police higher ups have finally given the nod to the Canacona police to chargesheet Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar in the Cotigao Wildlife rioting case.
Sources in the know said the DGP has instructed the district police chief Shekhar Prabhudesai to get the Canacona police file the chargesheet against the Minister by Friday. Sources said the DGP has also sought to know why was there an inordinate delay in filing the charge sheet and who were responsible for the delay.
Following the DGP’s directions, the Canacona police, sources said, is giving final touches to the chargesheet to be filed against the Sports Minister after being directed by DySP, Quepem to file the chargesheet by Friday.
In this case, the Canacona police had registered an FIR against Tawadkar in 2009 under section 143, 147, 451, 353, 224, 225 read with section 149 of the IPC upon a FIR lodged by the Range Forest officer, Paresh Parab. The RFO had alleged in his complaint that the forest officials had detained two persons from Karwar, Manoar 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 police had been found wanting in chargesheeting the Minister for reasons best known to them despite the fact that a Public Prosecutor had given the green signal to prosecute Tawadkar in 2014, even suggesting that the police may move the court for condonation of delay in filing the chargesheet.
However, the police virtually sat on the opinion of the Public Prosecutor for the last two years. Last October, the police had submitted a detailed report to the Superintendent of Police, South Shekhar Prabhudesai with a proposal to charge sheet the Minister, but in vain.
The police turn around came after the Judicial Magistrate First Class sought to know from the Canacona the reasons behind the delay in filing the charge sheet. In another development, social activist Adv Aires Rodrigues also stepped in the case by serving a legal notice on the Chief Secretary and the DGP, threatening to move the high court if the Sports Minister was not charge sheeted within a week’s time, leaving the police authorities with no option than to set in motion the process against the Minisgter.
In the meantime, Tawadkar had told the media last week that he is not afraid to face the case, claiming that he was falsely implicated in the case during the Congress regime.
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OFFENSES REGISTERD
AGAINST MINISTER
Section 143 -- Unlawful Assembly
Sec 147 -- Rioting
Sec 451 -- Trespass
Sec 353 “ Use of criminal force to deter government servant from discharging duty
Sec 224 “ Resistance by a person to his lawful apprehension.
