Crumbling house shows the true face of Goa Police
The who, what, why, when and how of a multi layered saga that left the state first outraged, then dumbfounded as conflicting interests over a 600 sq m plot of land clashed in full public glare.
Let’s begin with the most discussed story from Goa this week and that has taken so many twists and turns that it can officially be classified as a saga. I’m sure you have many questions like: What exactly happened? How was the Agarwadekar family in possession of the house in the first place? What role did the DGP and the Goa Police play on behalf of the said Pooja Sharma. So bear with me while I try and unpack every angle of the case and the forces at play
But before I begin -- a disclaimer. Till date not all versions of the story have come to the fore. The original owner of the house that was being demolished, Chrys Pinto and the new owner Pooja Sharma are yet to speak up despite nearly a week having passed since the incident came to light. I get that, as journalists, we need to get to all sides of the story, but attempts to reach out to them have so far proven futile. That said, one could argue that they have had ample opportunity to speak up, if they so wished to and that they haven’t can only mean that it’s their conscious choice to remain mum so far.
The players
So far, we have the account of the Agarwadekars -- the family that cried foul -- consisting of the father Pradeep Agarwadekar, his wife Prinsha and their teenage son Prince (there are two other children (girls) too but who are not relevant for the purposes of this story and hence we shall not name them). The Agarwadekars cried foul after private security, “bouncers” as they are called colloquially, marched up to their doorstep on Sunday June 23 and told them that they had ‘orders’ from the new owners to demolish the house.
We also have the account of the Prashal Dessai, the now suspended Police Inspector of Anjuna Police station, whose tell-all statement recorded before the Chief Secretary, who is conducting and inquiry into the entire saga has nailed the role of the Director General of Police and we have the versions of persons who witnessed the events of Sunday June 23.
The arena
The issue concerns a 600 square metre plot located at Bairro Alto in Assagao that belonged to one Chrys Pinto and his wife Emerciana Pinto. The Pintos had bought the plot, which was part of a bigger property from a family Amy Vaz and her husband Frederick Vaz back in 1998 and around the year 2000 built a two storey house. Over the years the house deteriorated and was in need of repairs and as such the Pintos were no longer staying in the house at Assagao.
In September 2023 (last year) the Pintos agreed to sell the house along with the surrounding property to one Pooja Sharma for a total consideration of Rs 1.14 crore.
Even as this transpired the Agarwadekars lived in the house that they had made their own. The circumstances that led to them entering and occupying the house remain yet clear, and will remain so unless Chrys Pinto who owned the house until September last year speaks up.
The Agarwadekars claim they have been living in the house for the past two decades -- which if taken at face value, would mean they entered and occupied the house a few years after it was built. Remember it was built only in the year 2000 two years after the plot was bought in 1998.
They have also got a ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the original owner Chrys Pinto, which allowed them to transfer the electricity bill and house tax in their name. They also claim, somewhat dubiously, that they had entered into a deal to buy the house from Chrys Pinto and had even paid a consideration towards the eventual purchase.
Pooja Sharma enters the chat
Around six months ago, the new buyer, keen to evict the occupants of the house, filed a case before the Special Investigation Team probing land grab cases in Goa accusing the Agarwadekars of ‘grabbing’ the land that she bought. The Agarwadekars received a notice asking them to respond to Sharma’s complaint. Even as the case dragged on, somewhere, someone decided they’ve had enough.
Enter Arshad Khwaja, a man in his mid 50s variously described as a broker, a builder or real estate agent. Khwaja, along with around a dozen ‘bouncers’ knock on the Agarwadekars’ door at around 11:30 pm telling them they have orders to demolish it. The Agarwadekars refuse and instead begin recording the events.
Soon, amidst commotion, earth moving machinery moves in after which, prompts the Agarwadekars to call on the police helpline. The message is transferred to the Anjuna police station who depute a pair of sub inspectors to take stock of the situation.
When they reached the spot they find that an earthmover has begun demolishing the house. Sub inspector Sanket Pokhare met the aggrieved Agarwadekar family who claimed that the house was being demolished even as they were residing in the house along with their belongings. The police directed the operator to stop the demolition and directed the operator to load his machine back in the truck and take it to the police station.
The Police then directed the family to come to the police station and lodge a complaint. The machinery was left on the spot and no further instructions were given to report to the police station.
The excavator operator then loaded his machine onto the truck and drove off. That would have been that for the day, had things not taken a decisive turn.
Arshad Khwaja along with his men, drove behind the excavator truck, forced him to turn around and resume the demolition. In the meanwhile, they bundled Pradeep Sharma and his son Prince into the car and drove off. They would be dropped back only at 10:30 pm.
When the demolition of the house resumed for the second time, the police were again deputed to the spot, at which time the operator and others fled from the spot.
Both the parties were called to the police station -- Arshad Khwaja produced a copy of the sale deed showing Pooja Sharma as the owner, while Agarwadekar didn’t hand over any documents saying she would do so the following day.
Later that evening local MLA Delilah Lobo visited the police station and on camera, accused the police of inaction in allowing the demolition to resume, after which word of the incident spread across the state.
The incident sent shockwaves across the state with the state unitedly baying for the blood of the ‘Delhi builders’ attacking and high-handedly dispossessing a local Goan family of their home.
The case has since been transferred to the Crime Branch while the Chief Minister has directed the Chief Secretary to inquire into the incident. Arshad Khwaja and the excavator operator were arrested on the first day while six others, mainly bouncers, have been arrested since then.
The true face of the Goa Police
The case took an intriguing turn on Friday morning, when Police Inspector Dessai’s statement was, helpfully, leaked to the media. While I can’t directly say who leaked the document, the only people who had access to it is certain people in the Chief Secretary’s Office and certain people in the Chief Minister’s Office.
According to the statement, Prashal Dessai has submitted before the Chief Secretary. The Mapusa Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) at the time, Jivba Dalvi, first ordered an inquiry to be conducted into who was staying at the disputed house. A report was sent back to him saying that the Agarwadekar family was staying at the house. Dalvi then called the Agarwadekars for meetings on “numerous occasions” many of which they attended. It is not clear what transpired during these meetings.
When Dalvi was transferred, his successor Sandesh Chodankar too called the family for ‘meetings’ which they refused to attend.
The state’s top cop, the Director General of Police Jaspal Singh IPS, first entered the picture when he raised the issue during a meeting with the Anjuna PI and Sandesh Chodankar saying Pooja Sharma needed to be “helped” in vacating her house.
A day prior to the attempted demolition, Singh phones Dessai and informs him that a party of Pooja Sharma will be going to Assagao and directs him to help them.
When the demolition is stopped for the first time, the DGP again phones the PI angrily questioning him why the Police stopped the demolition and orders him to take anyone obstructing the demolition to the Police Station. This despite the Police Inspector informing him that the Agarwadekars were “aggressively opposing” the demolition and had even called the Police Control Room.
On the DGP’s pressure, the Police then let the excavator operator and Khwaja go, which allows them to resume the demolition of the house even as Prinsha is taken for a medical checkup after she alleged she was assaulted during the scuffle. Khwaja even tells the Police Inspector to pay heed to the call he might have received from a ‘top officer’ and allow the excavation to proceed.
“DGP Goa was continuously pressuring me to allow Mr. Arshad Khawaja (who has since been arrested) to continue [to] demolish the house. He also threatened me to start the work within 10 minutes, otherwise to get ready to face the consequences if the work is not completed,” he alleged.
“On 24.06.2024 (the day after the demolition) DGP Goa had directed me to come to his office at PHQ (Police Headquarters)... he started shouting at me for not allowing Mr. Arshad Khawaja to complete the demolition work of the house. He also started threatening me [that he will] initiate [a] high level committee against me. He also threatened me saying that, if he is also transferred from Goa whenever he will be posted he will book [a] case under NDPS Act and he will falsely record statement of that accused that he is doing Drug trade in connivance with PI Anjuna Police Station and will frame me in the said case,” he further said in his statement.
With the cat now out of the bag, the question that needs to be asked is what does this mean for Goa?
What does this mean for Goa?
First, that several lobbies are at work and none if any have any interest whatsoever in getting to the truth of the matter. Every move that has taken place so far is solely part of a larger (power) struggle to either ‘fix’ someone or protect someone. Truth, propriety, everything be damned. It’s a naked display of
It is clear by now that those tasked with positions of power are only misusing that position to make and break deals in the state even as the government of the day struggles to get a grip on proceedings in the state.
Such is the level that the top officers of the state are willing to stoop for their personal interests, throwing all notions of propriety to the wind and making the system dance to their tunes in favour of moneyed interests.
Truly, Goa is nothing but a playground to be operated at their whims and fancies.
While many may question the sincerity of the Agarwadekar family in first occupying and later attempting to cling onto the house that isn’t theirs -- I just have one thing to say. If at all Goa has survived as Goa for so long it is only because of the kul mundkar (farmers and land tillers) of Goa who have stood in the way. Left to the bhatcars, Goa would have been sold out long ago.
The story isn’t over yet. For now, expect that the DGP will be transferred out of Goa. The No. 2 in command, Inspector General of Police, has already been asked to cut short his holiday in the US and questions will continue about who lost and who gained from the entire saga. That’s for you to ponder and perhaps relfect on.