MARGAO
When Superintendent of Police, Konkan Railway Police station, Sammy Tavares was returning to Margao on Tuesday noon, little did he realise that he would have to intervene in a gang war that all the portents of culminating into a murder.
In fact, many say that Anwar Sheikh alias Tiger Anwar survived an attempt on his life solely due to the intervention of SP Tavares and his police driver near the Arlem circle on Tuesday noon.
“When my police vehicle was crossing the Arlem circle on the Eastern bypass, we saw a crowd around and a group of persons armed with weapons on a hot pursuit of a man. Initially, we thought that a film shooting was taking place on the road, but on close scrutiny, we realised that an armed gang was after a person,” he said.
SP Sammy added: “Sensing trouble, I told my driver to drive fast and we reached the spot, three members of the gang made good their escape after seeing the police vehicle.”
He pointed out that two persons, one with a big “koita” and other with a pipe, were still chasing the person. “We decided to intervene. When the person carrying the iron pipe saw me and my driver, he quietly left the scene. We just reached the spot where the person armed with the big “koita” was about to assault when he too tried to make good his escape,” SP Sammy said.
As the accused tried to flee, both SP Sammy and his driver gave him a hot chase forcing the accused to jump into a water nullah. “The accused was not ready to surrender and we had to use force to nab him and then called the Fatorda Police station in-charge, PI Kapil Nayak before handing over the accused to the police,” SP Sammy said.
Saying that the incident would have ended into a murder, SP Sammy said he and his driver later realised that the person who was being assaulted was the history-sheeter Anwar Sheikh. “No one has the right to take the law in their hands. The victim may be a notorious goon, but no one had the right to attack anyone,” he added.
This is not the first time that SP Sammy was involved in a filmy-style chase of accused persons. In the early 90’s, when he had joined the Goa Police as a young Police Sub-Inspector, Tavares had managed to nab two robbers, who were involved in looting the salary of teachers at Vasco. “That time, I had to fire in the air as two of the accused persons tried to escape at Utorda when I and my team had gone for a search operation,” Tavares recalled.
