Team Herald
CALANGUTE: ‘Downtown’, the nightclub at Calangute, whose staff was involved in a brutal assault of two brothers on Sunday late night, operated without a valid licence, informed the panchayat.
Calangute sarpanch Joseph Sequeira on Tuesday said the nightclub whose bouncers had allegedly assaulted two local youth does “not have a valid licence.” He said the panchayat had recently issued a notice to the club as they have not paid their dues or renewed their licence.
Condemning the alleged assault, Sequeira said “This is happening because our Goan people are giving their places on rent to outsiders. This place was known as Cape Town. It belongs to a Goan (who owns a popular nightclub in Tito's lane). He has given it to an outsider who has named it Downtown. If our Goan had not given the place on rent then this incident would not have taken place. Every second or third day fights are there. We can't go and stop the fights. It's the police who should take action,” he said.
Sequeira claimed that there are illegal encroachments done by the controversial nightclub. “We will again issue a notice that if there is anything illegal, we will remove the encroachment,” he said.
The nightclub was sealed by Calangute police on Monday evening and three of its staff arrested after its bouncers allegedly assaulted two local youth on Saturday night.
Following the assault on two brothers, Akash and Aman Arlekar from Canca tried to file a complaint against the bouncers which was however not registered by the Calangute police.
On Monday, a large number of locals including the family members of the assaulted brothers, women and friends barged into the police station and raised a hue and cry demanding action against the nightclub owner and bouncers.
The two brothers were allegedly assaulted by around 10-15 bouncers when they were going to the Tito's lane to collect a vehicle. As the bouncers were assaulting one person, they stopped to watch. Suddenly the bouncers attacked Akash thinking he was a rival bouncer because he was wearing a black t-shirt. As he attempted to run away, around 20 bouncers chased and assaulted him. When his brother tried to save him, he was also brutally assaulted on the head.
Talking to reporters Akash and Aman along with family members demanded immediate action against the nightclub. Locals alleged that the police were refusing to take any action because they were receiving pecuniary benefits from the nightclub. Following this, Calangute police registered an offence and also sealed the nightclub at Baga.
The arrested accused have been identified as Mohan Singh, 28, native of Rajasthan, Labjit Basumata, 34, from West Bengal and Ravindra Singh, 42, of Uttarakhand. An offence under sections 351, 352, 118 (1), 324 (1) r/w 3 (5) of BNS have been registered against the trio. The fight and the assault was captured on CCTV.