April 20, 2014: He walked to his car, with his supposed girlfriend watching, took out a sword from its boot, walked up to two Panjim boys who were enjoying the onset of easter, slit the throat of Raju Sarin and then clobbered Rafael with such brutality that his eye gorged out with one eyeball dangling near his nose.
It’s a miracle that both are alive because the doctor in the casualty ward who treated both of them said that if the injury on Raju’s throat was even an inch deeper his life would have been snuffed out.
Both these boys did not know Zaine, the son of the high profile and extremely influential owner of a security agency who supplied body guards and security men to corporates, hotels and casinos and has senior policemen, lawyers and media barons on his speed dial. The victims’ only crime was that they were laughing and joking when the 23-year-old Zaine, drunk, thought that his girlfriend was joked at.
It’s a wait for justice with the case in the District and Sessions court. But it’s not the wait for justice that makes it long, it’s who you have on this journey- or do not have that matters. Herald has learnt that Rafeal, one year after this incident, doesn’t even have a full fledged lawyer to fight his case. His cousin Carlos Alvares, senior central government standing counsel and former Asst Solicitor general of India, who is believed to have advised his relative, says he is not handling the case and nor is he aware of what its status is. “It’s a state case, the public prosecutor must be aware.”
The police, initially under pressure due to Herald’s sustained reporting, arrested accused Zaine Almeida, with the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar promising that no pressure would prevent the government from pursuing this case to its logical conclusion. The police may well take the view that the charge sheet has been filed and they are awaiting trial. Conversations with the PI of the Panjim police station and the IP in this case, revealed that the case has literally gone into a judicial black hole. Parrikar has however mentioned that the case would be ‘fast tracked”. One year later, they are just empty words
However, answers to crucial questions still remain unanswered. One of it is from where did Zaine Almeida get the sword, the size of which clearly makes it an illegal weapon.
Why has the Panjim police failed to trace the assault weapon which was apparently dumped in River Mandovi. The police claim to have used services of the coastal police and even the Navy to locate the sword, but it remained just that- a claim.
Herald’s sustained campaign to give the justice to the victims expedited the investigation under sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code against him. Moreover, he was behind bars for nearly seven months until the High Court of Bombay at Goa granted him bail in November 2014.
The 99-page charge sheet contained statements of 42 witnesses with over 16 witnesses confirming 23-year-old Zaine Almeida direct involvement in the attack. One of them was complainant himself – Sumesh Kuhkhat alleging the assailant removed the sword from his Swift car boot and hit Raju and then Rafeal, whose lives hung by a thread on this day last year.
