Saudi Arabia hands over 2011 Goa riots accused to CBI

The CBI apprehended Barkat Ali, an absconding suspect in the 2011 Balli riots case, upon his deportation from Saudi Arabia. Ali, named in the CBI chargesheet, faces charges including unlawful assembly, rioting, and culpable homicide. The riots, sparked by a protest by the United Tribal Association Alliance, resulted in the deaths of two tribal youths.

File photo PANAJI: CBI Thursday arrested an absconding accused involved in the 2011 Balli riots case in south Goa, in which two tribal youths were charred to death, reports Murari Shetye. Barkat Ali , who had settled in Saudi Arabia, was detained by Riyadh police and deported to India, following a red corner notice issued against him. After his landing in Delhi, CBI took Ali’s custody and he was produced before a district court in south Goa and remanded in judicial custody .

State govt had transferred nine different cases related to Balli riots to CBI, which named Ali as one of the accused in its chargesheet. Ali and the other accused were charged with unlawful assembly , rioting, culpable homicide not amounting to murder and several other offences under IPC. In 2022, south Goa principal district and sessions judge Irshad Agha acquitted 13 accused charged by CBI in connection with the two deaths that took place after an agitation by United Tribal Association Alliance in Balli at Quepem in May 2011 turned violent.

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