OUT VIA WIRELESS MESSAGE

PANAJI: South Goa superintendent of police (SP) Sunita Sawant was removed from her position late Monday night, just hours after she sent a wireless message to all police stations to collect information on senior functionaries and members of the Hindu right-wing outfit, Bajrang Dal. Usually, SP-level transfer orders are issued by state govt, but in this case, Goa police transferred Sawant via a wireless message. Anti-narcotics cell SP, Tikam Singh Verma, has been appointed as the new South Goa SP.

During the weekend, South district police chief, SP Sunita Sawant received a pat on her back when Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai bestowed on her a special Recognition Award for accurate planning, static surveillance teams and flying squads and playing the key role in ensuring peaceful elections for the Lok Sabha Election 2024. Hardly two days later, SP Sawant received a late night wireless message from the police control room  to relinquish her charge of South Goa Superintendent of Police with immediate effect and report to the Police headquarters.

Indeed, the sudden shunting out of Sunita Sawant is a talking point in the corridors of the South Goa district police headquarters and outside given that her transfer is not a regular transfer order, but has been issued via a wireless message, indicating the transfer is borne out of some unknown emergency.

Sunita Sawant was the only top police officer from the GPS to be posted as the South Goa district police chief in recent times as the post was otherwise presided over by IPS officers.

Incidentally, sources in the know told The Goan that SP Sunita Sawant had reportedly sent a message to the police officers in South district a day ago to compile the list of prominent Bajrang Dal leaders and submit the same to her office on Tuesday.

SP Sawant was selected for the President’s medal for her distinguished service to the Goa Police department and the society on Independence Day last year.