High court issues notices in Goa drug nexus probe case
By IANSTuesday, January 18, 2011
PANAJI - The Panaji bench of the Bombay High court Tuesday sent notices to the Goa government and the CBI after a students’ union filed a suit in connection with the police-politician-drug nexus case.
Sunil Kavthankar, president of the National Students Union of India (NSUI), in his petition, has pleaded that the investigation into the nexus should be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation because the crime branch probe was faulty.
The high court has asked the Anti Narcotics Cell, the Crime Branch, the CBI and the chief secretary to respond to the notice seeking clarifications within three weeks.
Petitioner Sunil Kavthankar’s face was smashed by unidentified people who hurled a boulder at him while he was on his way to a conduct a signature campaign for seeking a central probe into the nexus.
Kavthankar, whose NSUI is a frontal organisation of the ruling Congress party, has also accused the key investigating officer in the nexus case, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Chandrakant Salgonkar, of having links to the drug mafia in Goa.
Infamous for being a narco tourism destination, Goa has over the last one year seen the arrest of two Israeli drug dealers Yaniv Benaim alias Atala and David Driham alias Dudu. Both arrests were credited to the efforts of the IPS officer lobby in Goa.
According to the opposition, Atala was allowed to slip out of the country by the police because he was linked to state Home Minister Ravi Naik’s son Roy. Both father and son have denied the allegations.
–Indo Asian News Service
