Six assault activist outside Caranzalem restaurant, five arrested

Panaji: Activist Rama Kankonkar was allegedly assaulted with a cycle chain, had his shirt torn and cow dung rubbed on his face by six people at Caranzalem on Thursday afternoon. Before leaving, they also photographed him. Of the six, five accused were arrested later in the day, said North Goa SP Rahul Gupta.

The arrested accused have been identified as Anthony Nadar (31), Francis Nadar (28) and Minguel Araujo (24) — all residents of Santa Cruz. Police have also arrested Manish Hadfadkar (24) of Chorao and Suresh Naik (31), said the North Goa SP, adding that all five are history-sheeters.

Kankonkar, along with his friend Soiru Velip, was at a restaurant at Caranzalem for lunch. After lunch, when Kankonkar and his friend came out, the accused attacked him with what was suspected to be a cycle chain and even dragged him into the middle of the road while continuing to assault him.

After the incident, the accused left the spot on two-wheelers. The entire incident took place within two minutes, as per the CCTV footage.

Kankonkar was shifted to Goa Medical College and Hospital, where he is undergoing treatment. It took over half an hour for an ambulance to reach the spot.

Panaji police have registered an FIR against the accused for hatching a criminal conspiracy and, with their common object, wrongfully confining Kankonkar, assaulting him with a deadly weapon, and threatening him with dire consequences to kill him, thereby attempting to commit his murder, said Gupta.

Velip, who was present at the time of the incident, said that after they got out of the restaurant one of the accused threatened him with a knife and stopped him from proceeding towards Kankonkar to help him as others assaulted the activist.

“After they rubbed cow dung on Kankonkar’s face, they clicked photos. While assaulting him, they were saying, ‘Do you want to become Goa’s rakhandaar (protector)? You want to save Goa?’” Velip said. “There were people at the spot, but not a single person came for help as the attackers were armed.”

Chief minister Pramod Sawant said such incidents would not be tolerated in the state. “I have directed police to arrest the accused,” the chief minister said.

Tribal minister Ramesh Tawadkar has also condemned the attack on Kankonkar.