Following the shocking gangrape of two women tourists from Delhi by five youngsters posing as policemen in plain clothes, the Goa Police will now re-issue an advisory asking people to be on the alert against fake cops.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Inspector General of Police Sunil Garg said that the advisory would ask everybody to verify the identities of police, if they are approached by people who claim to be policemen, especially those wearing plain clothes.
The modus operandi of posing as police isn’t new to the State with several instances of criminals posing as cops defrauding gullible victims relieving them of property and belongings.
“General public are therefore advised to be more careful of such persons who claim to be policemen and thereafter cheat the people. Ask for their identification as soon as they approach you for any help. Do not interact with any person who poses as a policeman, especially if the said person is in civil clothes,” the advisory issued back in 2013 read. The latest incident, is however, the first in which the criminals posed as cops to commit a sexual crime, besides also robbing their victims.
In the recent case, five people posing as cops drove up to the tourist taxi the two Delhi girls were travelling in and abducted, robbed, assaulted and raped the duo all of Monday night. They were arrested after the taxi driver escaped and reported the matter to the police.
Civil society as well as the opposition is up in arms over the incident, with a group of activists and others from the village of Saligao close to the North Goa beach belt around 15 kms from here, condemned the incident.
The Aam Aadmi Party in the State blamed the government’s callous attitude as being responsible for the commission of the crime.
“The coastal belt in the State is so filled with crime that the government has come to justify it. It is high time the government take action instead of just trying to justify the crime,” Valmiki Naik, spokesperson of the Aam Aadmi Party said adding that the reputation of the police has gone for a toss.
Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar had earlier sparked controversy after he said that the criminals were “naive” and petty criminals involved in other incidents of crime earlier.