CALANGUTE POLICE ARREST A WRONG PERSON: MAN PROTESTS IN ANGER

PANJIM: There was high drama at Calangute police station on Saturday when a complainant scrambled up a tree to protest the wrong persons being arrested in a crime. On Saturday Antonio Saldanha, in his early forties, called up the police control room (PCR) complaining of a theft of 10 lakh from his house at Sangolda.

 When a Calangute police team led by DySP P Mapari and Calangute PI Manjunath Desai reached Antonio's house, the complainant told them he suspected a neighbour of entering his house and stealing gold ornaments and cash.

"We found that the house was under repairs and on one side the wall was broken. There were two workers carrying out cement work. We searched for clues and as we didn't find anything substantial we brought the two workers to the police station for questioning," police said.

Police also requested Antonio to come to the police station to give his statement. When Antonio failed to provide details of items stolen from the house, police contacted his wife, working in a hotel in Calangute. When Sucrina Saldanha, 36, reached the police station, Desai took her to the house to ascertain details of missing items. After Desai left with Sucrina, Antonio ran out of the police station and climbed a tree outside it. "He climbed almost 15 metres high and when the policemen tried to coax him to come down, he said police had arrested the wrong persons for the theft," sources said.