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Has the Home ministry facilitated drug dealer Atala’s disappearance?
By Nisser Dias
nisserdias at gmail.com
SMS to 9422437029
For months now different organizations including coalition partners of
the government have been demanding that the investigation into the drug
nexus between the politicians-police-drug dealers be handed over to the
Central Bureau of Investigation, but for some reason the Home Minister
Ravi Naik has been exercising restraint and the chief minister Digambar
Kamat has been aiding and abetting him in not giving in to the demand.
And the result is Israeli drug peddler Yaniv Benahim alias Atala who was
enlarged to bail has disappeared, thereby landing a huge blow to the
investigation of Ravi Naik’s son Roy’s alleged involvement in the drug
nexus in the state.
The main contention of the chief minister and his Home minister in
refusing to handover the case to the CBI was that the state police were
competent and proficient enough to investigate the drug nexus between
politicians-police and drug dealers. Now the time has to ask the
Digambar Kamat and Ravi Naik about the efficiency of the police force,
be it the top brass or the Crime Branch. The Chief Minister and the Home
minister should hang their head in shame for the chicanery they
committed on the people of Goa and step down from their post for the
disgrace they have brought to the state by not disclosing that Atala
had jumped the bail during the Assembly session. BJP, NCP, NSUI have
demanded that investigation into the drug nexus be handed over to the
CBI, I would like to stretch it further and demand that the role of the
chief minister and the home minister be investigated in letting Atala
escape the state police dragnet.
With the disappearance of Israeli drug peddler it has been aptly proved
what I have been saying for years now that the Goa police are either
novices when it comes to investigations or they do the bidding of the
political masters especially when politicians and their families
politicians are involved and when politicians use their clout to
influence the investigation to favour the accused. And in Atala’s case
there is not a shadow of doubt in my mind that the police bigwigs have
not only bent but crawled at the request of the Home minister Ravi Naik
to give his son Roy Naik a new lease of life and that has come through
the disappearance of the Atala. Goans also have a right to know whether
Israeli drug peddler Yaniv Benahim alias Atala has only disappeared from
Goa or if he has disappeared from the face of the earth, because in the
drug scene that is the trend – liabilities just fade into thin air.
From the beginning it was known that this particular would not see its
logical conclusion simply because of the involvement of politicians and
police personnel. In May this year, I had written a piece in this same
column titled, ‘The missing link of Goa’s drug trade chain’ wherein I
had said, ‘that the Crime Branch investigating team wants us to believe
that only the 7 rogue cops along with the arrested drug dealers were
running the successful drug trade for so many years without the money
reaching the hands of high ranking police officials?’ Today I stand
vindicated, the Crime Branch personnel investigating the case has let
Atala disappear on purpose to keep the lid tightly on the can of worms.
All the personnel involved with the case should be immediately suspended
and the case the handed over to the CBI for thorough investigation
including the role of police top brass, Home minister and chief minister
in facilitating the Atala’s disappearance.
But I strongly believe in an old adage that says that truth never
remains hidden for long and it has to surface one day or the other. Till
such time Congress is in power in the state and Ravi Naik is
accommodated in the cabinet, the truth could be suppressed but the
moment there is a change of guard, the can of worms is likely to burst open.
But we can only pray that till such time Atala’s former girlfriend Lucky
Farmhouse who blew the lid of the drug nexus between politicians-police
and drug dealers is alive to tell her story, because for the moment her
life is in precariously placed. At the moment with the disappearance of
Atala, the 7 rogue policemen on bail, Ravi Naik still holding on to the
Home portfolio with his son Roy who is even yet to be arrested, top
police brass and incompetent Crime Branch personnel the cards are all
stacked against Farmhouse.
I recollect very vividly, chief minister Digambar Kamat boasting during
the Assembly session about the competency and capabilities of the Goa
police including Crime Branch to detect the case, he was also crooning
like a cock on top of the roof that it was only during his government
that the police suo motto registered an offence and arrested 7 policemen
based on the video clip posted on the You Tube by Lucky Farmhouse, he
was also boasting that it was his government that directed the police to
crack down on the drug trade in Goa. Now could the chief minister please
tell us if the police are so efficient how did Atala disappear?
Furthermore could you please tell us what action your government has
initiated against those police officers responsible for drug peddler to
jump the bail?
Infact the entire police force has become lethargic. Let me narrate
another case. In the month of March the Colva police arrested a person
for rape based upon the complaint filed by his house maid, wherein she
named the 43 year accused. Last week he was acquitted as the victim
refused to identify him. But the police and the prosecution failed to
point out the medical evidence, which indicated sexual activity. Firstly
if it was consensual sex between two adults, why did the police arrest
the man and secondly if it was rape why did the police and prosecution
not rely on the medical records.
These two cases are clear indication of police inefficiency and there
are many more, but then so many people have voiced their displeasure
about the inefficiency of chief minister Digambar Kamat’s governance,
but the chief minister for long now has been resorting to the ostrich’s act.
In my opinion, this government of not of the aam admi, it is the
government of drug dealers and peddlers, it is the government of
builders and developers, it is the government of miner owners (legal and
illegal), it is the government of scams and scandals and moreover it is
the government of the most corrupt ministers.
In conclusion, with the disappearance Israeli drug peddler Yaniv Benahim
alias Atala the investigation will halt and will be finally buried deep
in the archives of unsolved cases and for some time the ghosts of Roy
Naik’s alleged involvement in drug trade will stop to bother Home
minister Ravi Naik but I’m they will come to haunt him some day or the
other. (ENDS)
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First published in Gomantak Times, Goa - September 2, 2010
