By IANS,
Panaji : Organisers of night parties allegedly beat up two Russians over a property dispute at the Palolem beach in South Goa, the victims told the media here Friday.
Russians Dan Sorokin and Sergey Korbantkov were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of a local hospital Dec 7.
“One of those who assaulted us was a policeman in civilian clothes. It’s been almost a week since we filed the complaint. We are even willing to identify the assailants, but no police official has bothered to enquire with us even once,” Dan Sorokin, who last year bought nearly Rs.40 million worth property along Palolem beach, said.
The police, however, said that action was being taken in the case.
“It’s a civil dispute. Two FIRs have been registered. We are aware that the injuries received are serious in nature and we are probing the case,” a police official said.
Sorokin claims that the property has become a bone of contention because the drug mafia which controls the night-parties used Sorokin’s prime beachside land in Palolem as a venue for their late-night trance parties.
Sorokin is a director with White Raj Resorts Pvt Ltd, the firm which has purchased the property to build a resort.
“They could have taken my life, but fear will not keep me from coming to Goa, which I love,” Sorokin said.
He said that the Russian consul general had already taken up the matter with the chief minister and the Russian foreign ministry has also been informed about the assault.
Palolem, located in South Goa, has in the recent past gained a reputation as a narcotics hot spot because of the relative remoteness of its location.
A couple of week ago, Diwakar Pagi, the mayor of Canacona, the region in which Palolem is located, was arrested for trying to bribe a customs official into releasing a drug peddler.