Summary:
PANAJI: Town and country planning minister Vijai Sardesai on Friday assured mining dependants of withdrawing cases filed against 72 of its members for breach of peace during the protest morcha held on March 21, 2018. Panaji police had filed a 350-page chargesheet against the accused based on the statements of 108 witnesses and monitoring the video footage.“I will take up the matter with government and the cases will be withdrawn accordingly,” Sardesai assured the mining dependents in Panaji. Except 13 accused, other managed to get anticipatory bails.The protesters had initially gathered at the KTC bus stand. Thousands of commuters were left stranded on either end of the bridges as the entry and exit points were blocked.It took a violent turn as the crowd swelled and some started pelting stones and damaging public property. The police had to resort to lathi-charge to disperse the mob..