BICHOLIM
Eleven persons from Karapur-Sarvan have been booked on charges of unlawful assembly and criminal intimidation at the panchayat office, in connection with their opposition to the ongoing Lodha Project in Sarvan.
According to police reports, the incident took place in the chamber of Panchayat secretary of Karapur-Sarvan panchayat on Tuesday, when the accused, Siddhesh Tari, Ujwala Kavlekar, Neeta Morajkar, Manjita Chandelkar, Sanjivani Gaonkar, Chitra Nansekar, Mina Ghadi, Pritesh Salgaonkar, Abdul Mulla, Savlo Kavlekar, and Reema Gaonkar and others, sought to know about the proposed issuance of a show-cause notice to the Lodha Project.
The 11 accused are alleged to have formed an unlawful assembly inside the chamber of the panchayat secretary and aggressively charged towards the complainant inside the office premises and compelled her either to sign the show-cause notice against the project or tender her resignation from the post of Acting Sarpanch and Deputy Sarpanch.
They were also accused of not allowing the complainant to move out of the office premises and threatening not to permit her to leave unless she agreed to sign the show-cause notice or resign from her post.
According to the police, the complainant repeatedly informed the accused that she had no authority to independently sign the show-cause notice and further assured them that she would consult the office of the Deputy Director of Panchayat and, if legally empowered to do so, would take appropriate action in accordance with law.
However, despite repeated requests and explanations by the complainant, the accused persons paid no heed and allegedly continued to restrain and obstruct her from discharging her lawful official duties in her capacity as Acting Sarpanch and Deputy Sarpanch of Karapur-Sarvan Panchayat.
The accused are alleged to have criminally intimidated the complainant by extending threats and creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation inside the Panchayat office, thereby obstructing the smooth functioning of the public office and causing mental harassment and apprehension to the complainant.
Acting on a complaint, Bicholim police booked offences against the 11 persons under Section 189(2), 191(2), 127(2), 132 r/w 190 BNS and PSI Viraj Dhauskar is conducting investigations into the case,
