Home / Politics / Ravi Naik Smashed the Gangs of Goons
Ravi Naik Smashed the Gangs of Goons
Comments Off on Ravi Naik Smashed the Gangs of Goons

Ravi Naik Smashed the Gangs of Goons

Politics October 17, 2025 , by

By Rajan Narayan

When the late Goan politician became the chief minister in 1991, he inherited a lawless State. In a highly secretive operation, he went after the goons and criminals to restore the confidence of the State police.

Late Ravi Naik was the only Goan chief minister (CM), who confronted head-on the gangs of goons running amok in the State during that time.
He accidentally became chief minister and took over against the backdrop of two years of complete anarchy. Goa’s former Chief Minister Churchill Alemao had toppled the Pratap-Singh-Rane-government along with seven other Congress rebels, who were led by the then assembly speaker Luis Proto Barbosa.
Churchill induced Ramakant Dattaram Khalap,who led the opposition Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party(MGP),to defect with seven of his MLAs. The motley group ran, or rather ruined, the State. Churchill continued as the de facto chief minister with Khalap as the deputy CM.
The CM’s official residence became the sanctuary of goons. Wilfred de Souza, Congress politician, managed to topple the Barbosa government by inducing the remaining MGP MLAs to defect to Congress.
Ravi –‘the Shepard’ – was installed as the chief minister. Ravi inherited a lawless State, where the cops were terrified of the goons. It was futile to arrest them as their political pardons would set them free.
Ravi has no choice but to strike hard. It was also expedient as Churchill– the patron-in-chief of the goons – was trying to topple him.
In a meticulously planned and an intensely secret operation, teams of cops were summoned to the police headquarters (HQ). Only about 11 of them were the told about the operation to smash the gangs of goons.
Under their respective deputy superintendent of police (DySP), they fanned out to all parts of Goa. The then deputy inspector general of police (DIG) Ranjit Narayan supervised the entire operation.
Overnight St Cruz Congress MLA Victoria Fernandes and her son Rudolf were picked up from ST Cruz and lodged in the Reis Magos jail. The Rego gang from Merces,the Texasfrom Kharebandand over hundred history sheeters were detained under the National Security Act.
Under the Act, the State could detain people deemed to be a threat to the internal security for six months without bail. The Act was used by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi against politicians during the emergency.
This broke the back of the Goan gangs and boosted the morale of the police.As the mission progressed, Ravi went after bigger targets.Getting a tipoff, Churchill hid in one of his trawlers. In fact, his only son was born when he was on the run.
Finally, he too surrendered.The then IGP was alerted and was present when DySP Joe Dsouza escorted him to join Rudolf Victoria, who had been earlier released by the NSA review board.
At the peak of his popularity, Ravi had to step down as the CM. The Goa bench of the Bombay high court disqualified him. The kingmaker Wilfred de Souza succeeded him as the CM.
In another twist of fate, Ravi’s disqualification was set aside by the supreme court. Ravi was very close to the then Governor KidarNath Sahani,who without consulting the Centre sacked Dr Willy (Wilfred de Souza) and reinstated him.
His joy only lasted exactly six days. The governor was sacked, along with Ravi,and Wilfred de Souza was brought back as the CM. In 2OO2,he joined the then rising star late three-time BJP Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and was rewarded with the post of deputy CM.
He quit the Congress party and returned to the BJP party in 2022 and was elected from the Ponda constituency.Chief Minister Promod Sawant had to accommodate the veteran Bhandari leader as the agriculture minister in his government.

No related posts.

Search

Back to Top