Entrepreneur Abu Farhan Azmi, who was booked by police in Goa following an altercation with two locals, told The Indian Express that he was the one who called the police during the incident and that he had not taken out the licensed gun that he had in his bag. The incident took place when he was going to the supermarket with his son and a domestic help in his Mercedes SUV, said Azmi, the son of Maharashtra MLA Abu Azmi. “I was in the left lane and was turning left to go towards the parking. I gave the signal (indicator) and CCTV will verify this. If a driver is indicating for the left and he turns left, then the signal automatically comes back up,” he said. Suddenly one person, who was a local, came up beside his car window and hurled abuses at him, he claimed. “He said, ‘You Maharashtrians…you roam with such big cars and don’t give signal.’ I told him I gave the signal, but he kept abusing me. He banged the door and turned the car’s mirror upside down. I got out of the car and chased him. At 11.08 pm, I called the PCR and told them to send someone quickly as I could see a crowd swelling. I then got multiple calls from policemen asking me to wait. It took a long time for the police to arrive,” Azmi said. He said he locked his son in the car and appealed to the police to take care of the child. “In those 42 minutes, the group of locals forced me to go in the police van even though I am the complainant who called the police. For the safety of my son, I sat in the police van,” he said. “The crowd tried to pull me out of the police car. Later, I was taken to the police station. The other party said they do not want to file a complaint. I was served a notice by the police for a case of creating nuisance and I finally left the police station at 4 am. I will share all the videos with the police and cooperate with the probe.” He said he had informed a police official at the spot that he is in possession of an authorised and licensed weapon. “The gun was concealed in a bag. It is my duty under the Arms Act to inform the police that I am armed. One woman overheard my conversation with the police official and started claiming that I waved a gun at her. This is false. I did not take it (the gun) out. I have had the gun for years due to several threats in the past, but I have never used it. I was well within my rights under the Arms Act to carry the weapon and I have all the required permissions,” he said.
