Poinguinim/Calangute: Goa police on Thursday arrested actor Poonam Pandey and her director husband, Sam Ahmed Bombay, after apprehending them at a Sinquerim-based resort in connection with the circulation of an obscene video clip shot at Chapoli dam in Canacona.

The couple was granted bail by the judicial magistrate first class (JMFC), Canacona, at around 9.15pm on Thursday. Cuncolim PI Therron D’Costa, who is holding additional charge of the Canacona police station, said that the couple cannot move out of Goa wihout the permission of the court and have to report to the police station for six days.

D’Costa also told TOI that Pandey and her husband will be kept at the police station until they furnish the bail bond of Rs 20,000 each.

While Canacona PI Tukaram Chavan was suspended by the Goa police along with one constable who was present at the video shoot venue, the water resources department (WRD) suspended six of its personnel posted at Chapoli dam for dereliction of duty, pending inquiry into the incident.

WRD’s executive engineer Krishnakant Patil said the suspended staffers have been asked to report to the Margao works division during the suspension period. WRD chief engineer Shrikant Patil, has also written to Goa Human Resource Development Corporation to suspend all the seven security personnel who were posted at Chapoli dam and to replace them with new personnel with immediate effect.

South Goa SP Pankaj Kumar Singh said Pandey was traced at a starred resort in Sinquerim on Thursday and was served a notice under section 41A CrPC to appear before the Canacona police on Friday.

“However, during investigation it was revealed that she had booked her ticket for Mumbai and was about to leave Goa on Thursday afternoon,” Singh said.

A police team under the supervision of Cuncolim PI Therron D’Costa consequently detained Pandey and her husband at the hotel and brought the couple to the Canacona police station, Singh said.

They have been arrested under sections 292 (taking obscene photos), 293 (circulating the obscene photos on social media), 294 (for obscene act) and 447(trespass), of the Indian Penal Code, sections 4 and 6 of The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, and section 67-A of the IT Act.

“Police investigation has revealed that the couple had sneaked into the dam during the early hours of October 31 and shot the objectionable clip,” Singh said.

Further investigation is under way.

Canacona police on Wednesday had registered an FIR against Pandey following complaints by angry citizens and the WRD on November 2 about the circulation of the obscene video without permission of the authorities .

Irate villagers on Wednesday had marched to the office of the deputy collector, Canacona, demanding the suspension of the Canacona PI, whom they had accused of providing police protection to Pandey and the crew for the video shoot at the dam. They had threatened to call for a Canacona-wide bandh if the police failed to suspend Chavan by Thursday morning.

Canacona locals, who had gathered at the mini-complex at Chaudi on Thursday morning, withdrew the bandh call on learning about Chavan’s suspension.

Later, at a meeting held at the office of the deputy collector, in the presence of Canacona MLA Isidore Fernandes and former MLA Ramesh Tawadkar, Quepem DySP Nelson Albuquerque told the locals that an inquiry into the incident was in progress.

A strong posse of policemen was present in Canacona since early morning Thursday to tackle any law and order situation in case of a bandh.

Six police buses were seen stationed along the road in the vicinity of the Canacona police station.