The whole investigative process into the unnatural death of Fr. Bismarque Dias has been colossally clumsy, with serious, unforgivable lapses that are glaringly evident. The absence of alcohol in Fr. Bismarque’s remains already give the lie to the boys’ account that ‘most of the beer was drunk’ by him. This should put all their testimony into question. They ought to have been considered prime suspects or accomplices to murder from the very beginning, but for reasons best known to the investigative authorities, inexplicably haven’t. Their unconscionable delay in even attempting to search for Fr. Bismarque after he allegedly went ‘missing’ ought to have tipped off the police that these were not reliable witnesses. There has been huge negligence in collecting circumstantial evidence (fingerprinting of the beer bottles, bottle-caps, the collection and sending for analysis of the blood-stained patch of earth at the scene), evidence which should have led the investigation in a completely different direction.
In fact, the presence of all those beer bottles (which we now conclusively know were not consumed by Fr. Bismarque) ought to have led the investigators to at least consider the possibility of many ‘players’ involved in the unnatural demise of Fr. Bismarque.
Fr. Bismarque had filed a complaint at the Old Goa police station that he was receiving death threats, just days before his unnatural demise. Isn’t this suspicious? Why have the people named by him not been interrogated? Why have others who he bravely fought against over the years in order to protect Goa’s ecology, also not been interrogated, as they would also have had a strong motive in wanting him out of their way?
Even if one were to accept the verdict of death by drowning, it still by no means excludes the possibility of foul play in the unnatural demise of Fr. Bismarque. I quote from a forensic medicine text: “Proving that an unknown assailant in some way aided the death of another by drowning is difficult to establish and can usually only be established if there are physical wounds such as cuts or bruises or indeed in an eye-witness has seen the event take place”.
The only witnesses if any, at the site of Fr. Bismarque’s unnatural demise are patently unreliable. The physical wounds seen by eye-witnesses after Fr. Bismarque’s body was extricated from the water have been summarily dismissed, even though at that time an independent body of experts ought to have been called in. To try and explain them away as due to ‘aquatic creatures’ seems rather facile, especially since the body did not in retrospect spend that much time in the water.
It should not have taken such a long time to have excluded the presence of blood on Fr. Bismarque’s vest. Has the vest been returned to the family with the stains still intact? If not blood, then what, pray tell, caused those stains?
There are far, far too many unforgivable lapses such as these in the whole investigation. The shocking unnatural demise of Fr. Bismarque Dias and the clumsy investigation that followed will go down as a black period in Goa’s history.
I take this opportunity to publicly offer my deepest deepest condolences to the sorrowing family of Fr. Bismarque Dias. The people of Goa grieve along with you, and we will never ever, ever forget him!
