The Goa Police busted an extortion racket laced with seduction, sex and rape, which originated in Gujarat and entered Goa.
“By busting this racket, we have saved many families that could have been broken,” stated Vijay Rane Sardesai, Police Inspector of Colvale Police Station, where the story began.
“I was at Raj Bhavan on President’s security duty when I received a call from my police sub-inspector that a lady had come to file a complaint that she was raped. He told me it appeared to be a genuine one,” recollects Vijay, who unsuspectingly began joining dots that ultimately helped the Goa Police unearth what the Gujarat Police could not.
“Since the Supreme Court stipulates that a lady officer needs to register complaints of rape, I directed my lady PSI who was bound to Raj Bhavan to return to the Colvale Police Station. From the feedback I was given, with my superior’s guidance, I got in touch with my counterparts from Gujarat,” explains Vijay, as he clears the web.
The story Paresh got about the female victim from Gujarat was startling. “I was told by them that the same female victim had filed several rape cases in different police stations there and that prompted me to check with my colleagues from Goa. As cases stumbled in, the picture got clearer” says Paresh.
With the police higher-ups in the loop along with other police stations of the state, the last nail was struck when one Kiran Patel filed a complaint that a woman threatened him about filing a rape complaint at the Calangute Police Station.
“The victim of the lady who complained at my police station tried to meet her at the lockup. It appears that it is here that monetary deals are fixed and complaints are settled. I did not allow that to happen,” stated Vijay.
The two ladies and the man involved, according to the police, confessed that they belonged to the Manisha Behan gang from Gujarat.
“They used to make friends with the victims on Facebook, and on being made aware that the victims were coming to Goa, used to fly along – sometimes even on the same flight – and finally meet them in the hotels they were staying in,” discloses an officer investigating the case.
The two ladies and the man involved, according to the police, confessed that they belonged to the Manisha Behan gang from Gujarat.
“Once with the victim in the room, the girl after having sex used to demand money, and when refused used to threaten them about filing rape cases. Quite a few rape cases were filed in Gujarat until the modus operandi was shifted to Goa,” stated the officer.
“When the first complainant came to my police station, her acting was so good that the PSI as well as the lady PSI were convinced she was raped. The medical records of both showed signs of intercourse, but it was only after the red flags from Gujarat police and the details from other police stations in Goa that the truth added up,” stated Vijay.
This new style of extortion, with its roots in social media, has still not snared any Goans, or at least no cases have yet been reported by any Goan.
“We have reached the tip of the iceberg, and further investigations are still on. We have got their police custody until September 1, and the aim is to bust the entire gang,” stated Nidhin Valsan, Superintendent of Police (SP) North.
This new style of extortion, with its roots in social media, has still not snared any Goans, or at least no cases have yet been reported by any Goan.
However, this case has exposed that Goa is evolving as a paradise for such rackets being operated from outside the state and that our police are gearing up for it.
The principal brains behind busting the Gujarat racket in Goa were Colvale PI Vijay, Calangute PI Paresh Naik, PSI Anil Polekar, LPSI Pragati Malik, PC Laximan Patekar, LPC Dipali Naik under the tutelage of SDPO Vishwesh Karpe.