New forgery FIR filed as Curlies owner Edwin Nunes submits fake, forged Covid RT-PCR certificate

PANAJI: According to a report by Herald, the Goa cops have registered a fresh F.I.R u/s 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deals with forgery of an official document against Edwin Nunes the owner of the infamous Curlies Restaurant.

“We had summoned him (Nunes) on three occasions over the last few days, as the bail conditions stipulated that he should depose before the IO (investigating officer) as and when required. But Nunes failed to turn up and instead submitted an RT-PCR certificate from the Suburban Diagnostics centre,” Anjuna PI Prajal Dessai was quoted by Herald as saying.

Even as Nunes insisted that the Covid certificate from the Suburban Diagnostics centre was genuine, the cops got suspicious and cross-checked it with the centre.

It was found that the original certificate in the computer systems of the diagnostic center showed Covid negative, but Nunes manipulated and edited or forged it to show a Covid positive reading.

Nunes had earlier (on Friday) told the Anjuna police that he could be suffering from either dengue or Covid and the next day, his associates submitted a Covid certificate to the Anjuna police station – which he was supposed to attend in person as per the terms and conditions laid down by a Goa Sessions court which granted him bail in the Sonali Phogat murder case.

The Hyderabad narco cops had planned to arrest Nunes (in the Pritesh Narayan Borkar narcotics case) when he turned up at the Anjuna police station. Apprehending arrest, Nunes did not turn up at the Anjuna police station over the last 4-5 days and feigned illness.

We have learnt that Nunes has moved the High court for bail in the Hyderabad narco case after he failed to get any relief from a lower court.

Edwin’s anticipatory bail application was rejected on Saturday by a court in Hyderabad in a drug-related case (in which Hill Top owner Stephen John D’souza has been arrested and taken to Hyderabad) and the Hyderabad narco cops (H-NEW) had requested the Goa police to track down and arrest Nunes as he has no court protection in the second case filed at the Osmania University Police Station, Hyderabad in CR No 374/2022 u/s 8C, 22(C) and section 27 of the NDPS Act.

The Anjuna police Sunday registered a fresh F.I.R against Nunes under sections 468 and 471 of the IPC and PSI Tejaskumar Naik is conducting investigations under the guidance of Anjuna PI Prajal Dessai, Herald reported.

The Hyderabad police have sent a team to nab Nunes and are trying to track him down, but he is not at his residence and is said to be absconding.