Assagao razing: Cops leave out intel officer’s wife from chargesheet

Panaji: Goa police filed a chargesheet in connection with the alleged Assagao house demolition case but did not charge Mumbai resident Pooja Sharma, the wife of an intelligence officer. The chargesheet was filed against 13 persons.

“Pooja Sharma’s name is not in the chargesheet due to lack of evidence,” crime branch SP Rahul Gupta said. The chargesheet contains statements of witnesses, panchnama, and other relevant information and evidence, numbering 304 pages.It was filed before the judicial magistrate first class, Mapusa. The demolition was reported on June 22, 2024.The crime branch issued several summons to Sharma. After she failed to appear before Goa police to join the investigation, Sharma filed an anticipatory bail application apprehending arrest.

She was granted bail later.Goa police arrested several persons in the case. As police waited for Sharma to question her, she received anticipatory bail.Goa police registered a first information report against Sharma and unidentified persons for allegedly demolishing the house at Assagao and abducting two persons residing in that house.The complainant, Prinsha Pradeep Agarwadekar, said that Sharma and other unidentified persons damaged the house with an excavator with the intention to demolish it.

Anjuna police said that the accused took the complainant’s husband, Pradeep Agarwadekar, and their son Prince, to unknown destinations and then released them.Initially, the investigation was conducted by Anjuna police, but later it was transferred to the crime branch, which filed the chargesheet after completing the investigation.Anjuna police arrested excavator operator Pradeep Rana, 38, from Jharkhand, and 51-year-old Dona Paula resident and real estate businessman Arshad Khawaja in connection with the case. The crime branch arrested three women bouncers as well; in all, six persons were arrested in the case.