A holiday to Goa turned into a nightmare for tourists from Vasai in Maharashtra after a minor scuffle with locals turned violent. The incident left at least 20 people, including children, injured at the Merces village near Panjim on Wednesday.
A group of tourists, consisting of 50 members, were dining at Hotel Cafe Hoble when one of them allegedly grazed prime accused Lawrence Dias. This angered Dias who slapped another tourist, 58-year-old Lahu Ghodekar, in retaliation and also allegedly used foul language. The matter led to a fist fight between tourist Bhupesh L and Dias but was resolved after the hotel manager intervened.
"The fist fight was resolved by the hotel manager but the goonda threatened to bring his friends. It was a small issue but he said he would call his friends and show them their place," a waiter at the cafe was quoted by the Indian Express as saying.
True to his word, Dias and three of his friends arrived at the scene with swords and knives when the tourists boarded their bus to return to Vasai from Goa. They attacked the tourists and also pulled out Shivaji Shelke, the driver of the vehicle, and beat him up with a cane. The four accused attacked and injured around 20 people, including women, children and senior citizens, and also damaged the bus the tourists were travelling in.
"My father's hand accidentally grazed one of the members of their group. He abused my father, and when I asked him why he had used foul language, they started hitting us. We left the restaurant, but they accosted us outside and started attacking us," Bhupesh, one of the tourists, was quoted by Mumbai Mirror as saying. He added that the youth attacked almost every tourist inside the bus.
"The accused... armed with deadly weapons came in opposite directions and restrained the bus. Further, one of the accused snatched the bus keys from the driver while the others pelted stones on the front glass and windows and thus caused damage due to which some of the passengers from the bus got seriously injured," North Goa Superintendent of Police Kartik Kashyap was quoted by the Times of India as saying.
"The driver was pulled out and all four persons assaulted him, causing serious injuries with the intention to kill him and thus, they attempted to commit the murder of the driver," Kashyap added. Eyewitnesses criticised the police for taking nearly 45 minutes to arrive at the scene.
One of the tourists was quoted by the Indian Express as saying, "We had said sorry. Why did he have to slap us? Why hit our women? This is the first time we came to Goa with our family and we thought it would be safe." Mamta Gandan, another tourist, said: "They were drunk. Why should we come here for a holiday? Even women were not spared."
A couple of tourists suffered fractures while the others were given medical treatment for minor injuries. All the tourists were then escorted to Mumbai under police protection. Three of the accused — Dias, Vishal Golatkar, and Suraj Shetye — were arrested. However, the fourth accused Sai Kundaikar is still absconding. All the four accused have criminal backgrounds.
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar condemned the incident while speaking at an event in the city. He said that strict action would be taken against the accused. "Law and order is a serious issue for us," Parrikar said.
