Panaji: Goa Home Minister Ravi Naik today
sought to play down the controversy surrounding the missing
Israeli drug dealer, stating that the court had not asked
police to keep a tab on Atala and there will be no formal
inquiry into his disappearance.
"I never meant that we have initiated inquiry into his
disappearance. Some journalists called me up and I just said
that we are inquiring into it. It`s not a formal inquiry,"
Naik told reporters here.
The state police are facing criticism for letting
Israeli drug dealer Yaniv Benaim alias Atala go missing when
he was out on the bail.
Atala is an important link in the policemen-drug
peddler nexus which had seen seven policemen arrested.
Naik said the court had not asked police to keep a tab
on Atala and hence his missing cannot be attributed as failure
of state police.
"It`s not a failure of the police, we had not kept him
under security. There are so many cases and so many accused on
bail, we cannot go on keeping watch on everyone," the Home
minister said.
He said the police had not found anything on Atala and
hence there was no base to keep him under arrest.
In the tight spot with Opposition gunning for his
head, Naik said there is no much substance in the allegations
leveled against policemen.
-PTI
