Panaji: Six Goa policemen, arrested for their
alleged nexus with drug peddlers, were Monday granted bail by a
special court here.
A sub-inspector, a head constable and four constables
were released on bail by the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances (NDPS) Court.
Inspector Ashish Shirodkar, the key accused, was given
bail last week by Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court which
slammed the Crime Branch for its shoddy probe into the case.
Policemen-drug mafia nexus was exposed after Israeli drug
peddler Yaniv Benaim alias Atala was caught on a spy cam by
his former girlfriend Lucky Farmhouse bragging about his links
with the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) sleuths.
Atala claimed that Shirodkar had been allegedly supplying
him drugs stolen from the court lockers. Crime Branch named
all the seven policemen in its FIR and arrested them later.
Though the Crime Branch`s probe into the case has come in
for criticism from the High Court, the state government has
maintained that investigation was on right track.
Hours before the six accused-policemen were granted bail,
Chief Minister Digamber Kamat told a press conference that
"investigation was in right direction".
The government, in the past, had decided against handing
over the probe to Central agencies. It had told the High Court
that if necessary a senior-level officer will investigate the
case.
PTI
