Goa tourist attack: Guests abused, manhandled hotel staff, says management

According to the police, Sharma was allegedly attacked with a pen knife while a few of his family members, including his uncle Chandrani, 47, was also injured in the attack. The incident took place outside the Spazio Leisure resort in North Goa’s Anjuna on March 5

Days after the alleged “attack on tourists” incident in Goa’s Anjuna, the management of Spazio Leisure Resort, in a statement, revealed to the police that the complaints Ashwani Kumar Chandrani and Jatin Sharma “got verbally and physically abusive” with the hotel staff and that they were “adamant in violating the hotel policy.”

Delhi-based Jatin Sharma was allegedly attacked by hotel staff in Goa’s Anjuna (Twitter Photo)

As per the complaint from the Delhi-based tourist family, the hotel staff allegedly attacked them with knives, belts, baseball bats, and other things over a minor altercation with the waiter.

However, breaking his silence over the incident, the resort management has said that the group violated the hotel’s ‘no smoking policy’ by the poolside and even after reminding them multiple times to stop smoking hookah by the pool, “they got verbally abusive using derogatory expletives with the hotel staff.”

The management said that Sharma, who was allegedly attacked with the penknife, “manhandled a hotel staff member by pushing him around and threatened that he [should] leave the hotel immediately,” failing which they would demand a refund “for spoiling their holiday mood.”

Following the altercation, the waiter was asked to take the day off. However, according to the hotel management, the waiter returned to the hotel to collect his mobile charger in the evening and the confrontation re-erupted.

“Kumar was then seen on the CCTV heading out to the public road and upon seeing the hotel staff member, started an argument with him and his brother,” the hotel said.

“He was clicking their photograph, which was unwarranted and verbally abusing the boys using derogatory expletives at the top of his voice which attracted the attention of his group members,” it added.

The management said that as the incident heated, Sharma pushed the hotel staff, and later the tourist group joined in and attacked him, as can be seen on the CCTV.

“On witnessing this brutality, our hotel staff and locals intervened to stop the fight by pulling all the parties away, but to no avail,” the hotel said.

“Why did Mr Ashwani Kumar wait for six days (incident date on 5th March 2023) to release on social media that this incident took place in Goa and target the hotel? Was he waiting for his refund to be credited to his account?” the hotel questioned.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Goa police arrested a fifth accused for the alleged attack on the tourists from Delhi in which one seriously suffered knife injuries.

The fifth accused, identified as Salim Khan, was apprehended by a team led by deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Jivba Dalvi.

With the involvement of the fifth accused, the police have also added sections of unlawful assembly (Section 143 of the IPC) and rioting (Sections 147, 148 and 149 of the IPC) to the case.

Four people were arrested earlier namely Royston Dias, Nyron Dias, Kashinath Agarwadekar and Alex Lobo, all residents of Anjuna, police have said.

According to the police, Sharma was allegedly attacked with a pen knife while a few of his family members, including his uncle Chandrani, 47, was also injured in the attack. The incident took place outside the Spazio Leisure resort in North Goa’s Anjuna on March 5.

The incident gained the spotlight after the tourist family, upon returning to Delhi, uploaded videos of the attack on social media.

Meanwhile, Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant, who took stock of the situation, had said that the incidents of people taking the law into their own hands will not be tolerated.