Goans are becoming increasingly skeptical of police efficiency in tackling crime in the State. The police go about their job as usual but do not bother to offset the negative image, while dacoits and burglars strike at will, where and when they wish. SEBASTIAN RODRIGUES discusses about the infamous "newmoon gang".

A cunning gang of five lungi-donning dacoits has been going about proving how lax Goa's lawmen are. Hardly had the police completed seizing a large cache of sophisticated fire-arms from a number of individuals, the dacoits, nicknamed "new moon gang", sent a shockwave throughout the length and breadth of the State, with a spate of robberies and dacoities since the month of February.

The dacoits barged into the house of Deelip Kare at Gogol in Margao at the unearthly hour at 1.30 am on February 7. They beat up Kare and his wife Grace, the secretary of the Goa Animal Welfare Association, and decamped with gold ornaments and cash worth over Rs.80,000. They sneaked into the house when Grace ventured out to leash the dog outside the bungalow's main door. The robbers also smashed open the door to the room of Elsa Salemao, Grace's mother, gave her the fright of her life and snatched her gold chain and three rings, before trooping out nonchalantly.

As if emboldened by their Margao venture, the dacoits' next step ahead was a VIP residence in the capital city of Panjim, in the early hours of February 25. Five armed persons, broke the grills at the rear of the bungalow of the Development Commissioner, Ashok Kumar in the VIP locality at Altinho in Panjim. Having gained entry into the house, they looted gold ornaments and cash worth Rs.1.10 lakh by holding the Commissioner's daughter at knife point, to escape with the booty. The Commissioner spotted the police patrol van outside his residence but with the dagger-wielding dacoits staring at him menacingly, he dared not stir and invite their wrath.

The attack on a VIP must have proved a grand step ahead for the gang but did the cops learn anything from it? Probably not. One was given the impression that there is not enough manpower to provide protection against such crimes. They deputed three teams of Goa police to the neighbouring State of Karnataka, to glean more details about such incidents. Similarly, 18 new wireless sets were provided to the Panjim, Mapusa and Porvorim police stations to beef up security measures. Even police personnel were requisitioned from the Goa Reserve Police Force to provide additional assistance.

The dacoits, however, could not have been ignorant of the koddok (strong) police bandobust. They soon upstaged their pursuers with their expertise by attacking the Budke family at Silva Vaddo, Parra-Bardez, in the early hours of February 26. The lungi gang dropped enough clues to send the cops on a wild goose chase, by conversing in Hindi and Kannada. They went about their nefarious job methodically, exhibiting enough violence by attacking the Budkes residences with dandas (sticks), to loot ornaments and cash totalling around Rs.1 lakh. They also took along the family's fixed deposit certificates worth Rs.85,000.

However, when the gang raided the one-storeyed bungalow of Dattaram R Kamat, close to the highway at Guirim, it was virtually caught while they were fiddling with a Maruti vehicle nearby, to effect a getaway. The headlights of the police vehicle fell on the gang, but the alert guys melted into the early morning mist, with the cops and their dog in hot pursuit at 3.45 am on February 27. However, the police dog only sniffed the trail of the fugitives upto the Bastora culvert, where the chase was abandoned.

The burglars used their well established modus operandi of breaking the grills, and robbed cash of Rs.500, a wrist watch and some clothes belonging to some engineers residing on the bungalow's ground floor. Then they moved up and flashed a torched into the residence of Kamat. Kamat's wife, who was awakened by her child, raised an alarm when she saw the unusual light. The Kamats dialled the cops, who arrived at the scene soon enough but were not alert enough to catch the thieves.

The police launched a systematic manhunt for the dacoits. Following investigations in the modus operandi of the dacoities at the Kare House in Margao, Development Commissioner Ashok Kumar's house at Altinho and at the Guirim bungalow, the police came to believe that two gangs, operating in tandem, were responsible for the spate of thefts in Goa. They also concluded that the gang struck only on moonless nights. They suspect members of the Kochur community of Harpanahalli in neighbouring Karnatka, which first struck at various places in Goa during 1991-92. It is surprising how members from an obscure community from Karnataka can outstmart the police intelligence as far as the knowledge of Goa and Goans is concerned.

The police guess might have been right but it didn't help them achieve any significant headway in protecting the public from the nocturnal visitors. Yes, safety measures and night patrolling began but most are all of it was restricted to the cities alone. Goa, on the contrary, lives in her villages, where there are no cops to protect the public from anyone or anything. Moreover, the light-fingered gentry have access to the power switches to clamp a total blackout on any village of their choice, to put their plan into action. A former Superintendent of Police, J. O. D'Souza, noticed a gang, which was about to strike the house of a lonely, aged woman at Dona Paula. He scared the gang of five away but when he went to dial the police, the telephone, as usual, refused to work.

The verification started by the South Goa police to check the antecedents of domestic servants in South Goa ended in futility, with the general public not volunteering to provide the necessary details concerning their domestic servants. People do not really trust most of the policemen anymore as the latter have already earned a reputation of another kind and keep allienating themselves from the public. Police indifference and negligence confounds the people.

Even if one were to nab the robbers and hand them over to the cops, the latter would perhaps not know what to do with the culprits. The burglars, however, know the police tendencies so well that they purposely leave behind clues like footwear and other tell-tale signs to send the cops chasing the wrong way. So, even when burglaries occur the public finds it useless to inform the police. A gang of persons, wearing red masks attacked an uninhabited house in Baga-Arpora and carted away the crockery, cuttlery and even furniture in a four-wheeler, which was driver by a female. The robbers were seen by a person, who telephoned the police, who merely advises the people to switch on all the lights when they came across such incidents. Was this an outstation gang?

When everyone thought that the burglars had taken a long break (waiting for the next new moon phase to strike again), a five-some slipped into the bungalow of Fernando Peres da Costa at the Benaulim beach at 9.30 pm on February 28. The desperadoes entered saying "Poixe", "Money". Fernando's nonplussed sister Livia and her husband Jcome de Abreu Noronha informed the unknown intruders that they don't keep "poixe" (money) at home because of burglars. One knife-wielding toughie, who didn't believe them, pushed Jcome on the sofa and snatched the gold chain from his neck. Another chap pulled out a string from his pocket to tie Livia's hands. Just then they heard the watchman return to duty and escaped before they could be caught.

And the dacoities go on without the police having the slightest idea about the identity of the cunning criminals. In the earlier instances, they would escape by foot or with the help of their own vehicles but in a couple of later dacoities, they used the vehicle from the house they chose to rob, to escape with the booty.