Panaji: A CBI team on Thursday left for Peru to
get the custody of Israeli drug lord Yaniv Benaim alias Atala,
a day ahead of their scheduled trip.
CBI's Deputy Inspector General Pravinkumar Salunke said
the team has left for Peru and will start the formalities to
take custody of the accused immediately after landing there.
Atala had jumped the bail in Goa in August last year and
was re-arrested in Peru in January. The look-out circular was
issued against him by the Interpol, which helped in nabbing
him while he was travelling from Israel to Peru.
CBI sources stated that the team is expected to return in
a couple of days after completing the formalities.
"Peruvian government has already agreed to hand over the
fugitive, who was arrested by Interpol at the Airport in
January this year," an official said.
Atala is an important link in the drug nexus case which
was exposed last year through a spy cam video shot by his
former girlfriend Lucky Farmhouse.
The stunning revelation, which was further probed by
Crime Branch, had seven policemen arrested for having links
with drug dealers.
The sleuths attached to elite Anti Narcotic Cell (ANC)
were found to be pushing back drugs, which was seized in the
raids, in the coastal belt.
Goa Home Minister Ravi Naik's son Roy's name has also
come under the scanner during the investigation. Farmhouse had
claimed that Roy was a frequent visitor to their place and was
providing them drugs.
The Bombay High Court's Goa bench, through an order, had
handed over the investigations to CBI after Congress-led
students' organisation Nationalist Students Union of India
(NSUI) filed a petition alleging shoddy probe by Crime
Branch.
Atala, who was arrested by Goa police in March 2010, was
granted bail in June.
The fugitive will be brought under tight security to Goa
where he would be interrogated by a CBI team, specially formed
to investigate the drug nexus case, sources said.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, August 18, 2011, 09:40