GOA POLICE CHIEF AWAY ON WEEK’S HOLIDAY AMIDST CONVTROVERSIES

PANJIM: Even as two controversies-the police-drug mafia nexus investigations and the alleged custodial death of Cipriano Fernandes-have emerged to mar the Goa police image, the state police chief is away on a week`s holiday.

DGP Bhimsen Bassi left for Delhi on January 15 and is expected to return only on January 24. "There is one official meeting he has to attend in Delhi on Tuesday. He is not returning immediately and has combined professional work with personal commitments by taking a few days casual leave along with official permission to go out of state," sources in the secretariat said.

This is being seen as an attempt to save face amidst allegations of inaction by top police officials in a case in which an IPS officer is allegedly involved and there is undue delay in registering an FIR in the police-drug mafia nexus.

Incidentally, the DGP moved his leave application immediately after it the video of former ANC PSI Sunil Gudlar, demanding bribes allegedly on instructions of a senior officer and threatening to plant charas on a person if he fails to pay money, were released.

IPS and IAS officers combining official work with personal matters to be out of the state is nothing new in Goa.

Opposition leader Manohar Parrikar said, "Majority of times, IPS and IAS officers are out of the state. When they are in Goa, they are busy scratching the politicians` backs to ensure that they get to go on leave. This I have realized as in majority of the Public Accounts Committee ( PAC) meetings several IAS and IPS officers are absent."

Further criticizing the DGP for going on leave when police credibility is being questioned, Parrikar said, "I don`t see the DGP taking serious interest is his work. Majority of the police force is reduced to a subsidiary force and their job is to give security and illegal escort to politicians."

Though no comment was forthcoming from Goa police, chief minister Digambar Kamat defended Bassi and said, "He must have had some meetings in Delhi, besides personal work due to which his leave must have been approved. The police machinery won`t suffer in his absence as DIG, who is a senior officer, is there to monitor urgent issues."