Days after a complaint purportedly made by restaurateurs and club owners in Goa accusing Chief Minister Pramod Sawant of extortion went viral, the Crime Branch of the Goa Police on Monday claimed that the written ‘complaint’ was first circulated on WhatsApp from a Vietnam-based mobile number last week.
In a statement issued on Monday, the Crime Branch claimed that the complaint was phoney, adding that two of the restaurant and club owners who had signed off on the document, had filed a complaint with the state police citing forgery of their signatures.
“Pursuant to a letter that was circulated via social media regarding allegations of extortion of club and restaurant owners from Goa by collection agent and goons, an inquiry was conducted by Crime Branch, Goa. On inquiry, it was found that there were no names of complainants in the complaint other than SEVEN illegible signatures. The complaint originated from a Vietnam number +84 334364121 via WhatsApp, from which it was sent to different numbers on March 16,” the Crime Branch said in a
statement.
The document which contained signatures and names of several restaurateurs in the state had gone viral last week, forcing Sawant to direct the Crime Branch to conduct a probe.
Two businessmen who had been named in the complaint, namely Sahil Adwalpalkar, who owns several clubs and restaurants in the state as well as Gopal Kucchadkar, had later filed police complaints claiming forgery of their signatures on the document.
“They (the two complainants) stated that a fake letter was sent to them through number +84334367121, and on close inspections of signatures, the surnames in signatures resembles their surnames, and since they were club owners of the night club, they wanted to register a Police case of forgery. They also said that the letter was a malicious act to defame Goa, the Goan Government and the chief minister,” the Crime Branch said.
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