PANAJI, June 28: The opposition parties on Friday demanded that Goa’s Director General of Police (DGP) Jaspal Singh be sacked for his involvement in the unauthorised partial demolition of a house at Assagao in North Goa.
Accusing the DGP of misusing his position, the Congress demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter and sought his removal. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also targeted the state police chief as well as the state government over the issue.
The resident of a one-storey house in Assagao, Prinsha Agarwadekar, has earlier lodged a complaint with the police alleging that her house was partially demolished last Saturday and her husband Pradeep and son Prince were kidnapped by unidentified individuals. Police later arrested Arshad Khwaja (51) from near Panaji who claims to be the owner of the property and the driver of the bulldozer.
The opposition parties on Friday cited a media report which quoted that the inquiry findings had alleged involvement of state DGP Jaspal Singh into the matter. The report claimed that inspector Prashil Desai, attached to Anjuna police station, had informed the state chief secretary that the DGP shouted at him when he stopped the house demolition last week.
The demolition of the house created a political controversy with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant instituting a high-level inquiry led by Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goyal into the case.
Talking to reporters, Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao said the DGP’s involvement is just a “tip of the iceberg”.
“Linkage from BJP to DGP needs to be probed. It is an open secret that BJP patronises land and real estate mafia,” he claimed.
He questioned why CM Sawant was avoiding questions from the media on the issue, and demanded a judicial inquiry under a retired high court judge into the matter.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Amit Patkar said the revelations by Anjuna police exposes how DGP misused his position to protect an outsider in an illegal act.
“I demand Goa CM Dr Pramod Sawant to immediately ask Union Home Minister Amit Shah to sack the DGP for his involvement in Assagao house demolition case,” he said.
“How can we expect the police department to function in a free and fair manner when the super boss himself pressurises his subordinates?” he said.
AAP’s Goa chief Amit Palekar wrote on his X handle, “Words coming out from the horses mouth is that Assagao incident is directly connected through non uniform wearing Police officer to CM @DrPramodPSawant and that’s why he as Home Minister is quite (read quiet) when media questions him.”
When contacted, DGP Jaspal Singh said that he has asked Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch) Rahul Gupta to comment on the issue.
The case of demolition has been shifted to the Crime Branch (CB) which has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate.
Talking to reporters, Gupta said, “The SIT has arrested six persons in connection with the demolition case. Teams are sent to Belgaum (Karnataka) and Mumbai to arrest more accused.”
When asked about the allegations against the DGP, Gupta said the news report making allegations on a senior police officer is based on an “unsigned and unverified” document.
He refused to speak further on the involvement of the DGP. (PTI)
