People attacked Israeli citizen in links with drug cases in Goa

An Israeli national, who has been booked in narcotics cases in Goa, was injured in an attack by a group of people at the Anjuna beach near here, police said Wednesday. The incident took place Tuesday night and the Israeli, David Driham, has lodged a complaint, they said.

The Anjuna police said Driham, in his complaint filed in the wee hours of Wednesday, accused a local businessman and people associated with him of assaulting him. A staff member of the businessman has accused Driham of stabbing him, they said, quoting a separate complaint.

Driham, 43, has been booked under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in several cases in the past and is facing trial. Anjuna police inspector Chandrakant Patil said Driham was taken to the district hospital in Mapusa town of North Goa after the attack, which had left him injured.

Driham accused one Mahesh (full name not revealed) and 10 others of hitting him with iron rods, metal pipes and wooden items, the police said. Later, Anjuna-based businessman Mahesh Gadekar, 40, filed a separate complaint alleging Driham had assaulted his staff members. The complaint said one of his staffers was stabbed by Driham due to which he suffered "major" injuries, the police said. Patil said both complaints are being investigated.

What triggered the attack is not yet clear. However, it is being reported that Driham took a jet ski of Mahesh to the rocky area of the sea and this angered the latter. Driham was linked to the infamous police-drug mafia nexus case which was investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the year 2012.

(With inputs from agencies.)