Goan rhapsody continues…..

Out of sheer curiosity, we decided to carry out a drive to check their travel documents. To our surprise, not even one of them had the requisite business visa. They were all on tourist visas for six months to coincide with the peak tourist season. During this period they ran these restaurants freely. Quite a few of them were virtually settled in Goa, had bought land and were running flourishing businesses with no one to question them. Such foreigners were now being identified, their papers checked and if found without legal papers, they were being deported.

As the drive progressed, a number of such premises closed down and their foreign owners fled. However, I was to realize much later that I was treading on the toes of powerful local people who would soon get even with me.

Amongst the many victims of the drive was a famous foreigner—a German national, Ingo Grill—who ran the hugely popular Ingo’s Saturday Night Bazar in Goa, in partnership with a top politician’s wife. Inquiries into his business activities showed that since 2002 he had organized flea markets under the aforesaid brand name at different locations in Goa. He had incorporated an eponymous company with the local registrar of companies and had a letter from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) addressed to M/s Goa Adventure Company, with a Panaji address, conveying approval in his name for acquiring equity shares as a foreigner.

As inquiries were under way, several people occupying positions of authority asked me why I was taking such a keen interest in Ingo’s affairs. When informed that all the foreigners running businesses in Goa were being probed, I was given hints to back off in the case of Ingo. When the inquiries continued unabated, first my juniors—mostly officers from Goa—were intimidated. In their defence they said they were only carrying out orders. It was then my turn to be pressured and to receive veiled threats. However, the inquiries continued.

To be continued….