MAPUSA
Anjuna Police arrested two taxi-drivers for allegedly assaulting a GoaMiles driver who had come to pick up a hotel guest in Anjuna on Sunday morning.
The two taxi-drivers “ Rohan Gavandi of Parsem, Pernem and Mangaldas Paliencar from Anjuna “ were arrested and lodged in the lockup. Later in the evening they were released on bail.
According to police the GoaMiles driver, Croydan Fernandes (24) a resident of Fatorpa had transported a guest from Dabolim airport to Baga at around 9.30 am. He then got a call to pick up a guest from a hotel in Anjuna.
When he arrived in Anjuna to pick up his guest, some local taxi-drivers stopped and started misbehaving with him, police informed.
“They first started pounding his car and then pulled him out of his car and slapped and kicked him,” a police officer investigating the case said.
With no alternative, the GoaMiles driver left his guest and drove straight to the Anjuna Police Station and lodged a complaint against the taxi-drivers.
After completing his medical formalities, Anjuna Police along with the GoaMiles driver visited the site of crime where the GoaMiles driver identified the two taxi-drivers who were involved among others in assaulting him.
Accordingly, Anjuna Police rounded up both the taxi-drivers and arrested them under sections 341, 504, 323, 506 (2) r/w 34 of the IPC.
In the meanwhile, around 50 local taxi-drivers, after learning that two of their colleagues were arrested, gathered outside the Anjuna Police Station and protested against the action on their colleagues.
They also threatened to file a complaint against Anjuna PI for beating up their colleagues in the lock up.
