Senior cop to head Goa drug nexus probe

PANAJI - A senior police officer, most likely from the Indian Police Service (IPS) will now head the investigation into the alleged police-politician-drug mafia nexus in Goa, an official said here Thursday.

State Chief Secretary Sanjiv Srivastava said the police would follow all observations made by the Panaji bench of the Bombay High Court, which includes the appointment of a responsible IPS officer to head the probe into the drug nexus, which has been front-page news in nearly all newspapers in the state over the last few months.

“We will follow the honourable high court’s observations. The court wanted an IPS officer to head the enquiry, we will do it. Currently the IGP (Inspector General of Police) and DGP (Director General of Police) are supervising the probe,” Srivastava said.

Srivastava refused to comment on accusations against Deputy Superintendent of Police Chandrakant Salgaonkar, who the opposition has charged with attempting to derail and sabotage the probe into the nexus.

The probe has already resulted in the arrest of seven policemen and the arrest of two Israeli drug dealers Yaniv Benaim alias Atala and David Driham alias Dudu. The nexus was exposed after Swedish model Lucky Farmhouse uploaded videos of her former boyfriend Atala on www.youtube.com, boasting of his links to the police and politicians.

Even two months after the probe began, the police are yet to record Farmhouse’s statement. The high court has also suggested that the sloppy police investigation could be a result of political pressure.