Panaji, March 4 (IANS) The Goa police Thursday refused to transfer a senior inspector who has been named by a drug peddler as someone hand-in-glove with narcotics dealers in the state.
The statement of Atala, an alleged drug peddler and an Israeli national, has been recorded on video.

Despite this, Director General of Goa Police Bhim Sain Bassi said Thursday that he had ruled out the transfer or suspension of tainted Inspector Ashish Shirodkar, who is presently in charge of the Old Goa police station.

“We will consider administrative action only once his guilt is proved,” Bassi told reporters, when asked if the officer would be suspended or transferred.

Atala, a man supposedly active in north Goa, has admitted to an unknown person on the spycam video that Shirodkar would sell him drugs seized by the anti narcotics cell (ANC) as well as buy drugs from him to peddle.

The video, which was shot in a car in April 2008, is available on youtube.com. It also shows Atala boasting that the entire ANC is on the take and that no one could arrest him.

Yet another video the police stumbled upon shows Atala explaining how Shirodkar had accepted a bribe of Rs.1 lakh from him in return for releasing a drug peddler arrested during an ANC raid.

Bassi, whose force has been repeatedly accused of being hand in glove with the narcotics mafia, has said the charges against the officer made by the Israeli drug peddler were serious and not something to be taken lightly.

“Any police officer who is found involved in unacceptable proportion, we will take action, if sustainable evidence is found. The ANC will investigate the case soon,” Bassi said.