l Post mortem shows evidence of sexual assault and face smothered l From Goa Velha, she had moved into a rented flat alone, just a fortnight ago l Tenant verification was not done by her landlord
TEAM HERALD
Santa Cruz: In a shocking incident, a 69-year old woman from Goa Velha was found murdered in a rented room at St Agostinho Waddo, Santa Cruz, with an autopsy report pointing towards evidence of violent sexual assault.
What was initially assumed to be a case of the unnatural death of Luisa Maria Dias on Sunday morning soon turned into a murder case the next day, when police received a copy of the autopsy report indicating evidence of smothering and vaginal penetration.
Incidentally, residents were also unaware that a murder had taken place in the village on Saturday night and news of the incident spread across the village only late Monday evening.
Old Goa police informed that on Sunday morning they received a call from the house owner, Ana Fernandes, that Dias, who was staying on rent since the past fortnight, did not respond despite several knocks at the door.
“A police team went to the site and since the room was latched from the inside, a policeman climbed the rooftop and saw that the woman was lying still inside the room,” the police informed.
The police then sent a person on the rooftop to remove the tiles and he
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opened the room by removing the latch. On entering the room, the police found the woman dead. Her body was devoid of any clothing and in a sitting position when discovered.
The police immediately alerted relatives of the woman and after conducting the panchanama, sent the body for a post-mortem.
“Initially, the police thought that it was a case of unnatural death as the relatives also did not suspect anything fishy since the woman was suffering from heart disease, asthma and there was suspicion that she could have died of a heart attack,” a police official stated.
“Adding credence to this theory was the fact that the door was latched from the inside and there was no other exit point. Hence, the possibility of murder did not arise at that point of time.”
But, the post mortem report brought an entirely different picture as it revealed that the woman died due to smothering and there was evidence of blunt force vaginal penetration.
The police, however, said that it was not possible to ascertain whether the deceased woman was raped or not as there was the possibility that some object could have been used in the sexual assault.
Following the post mortem report, a case under Section 376 (sexual abuse) and Section 302 (murder) was registered against an unknown person, based on a complaint by the woman’s nephew, Ashley Dias.
Police investigations have revealed that Dias had been murdered sometime between 20.30 pm on Saturday and 8 am on Sunday.
Old Goa PI Krishna Sinari, who is investigating the case, informed that the police have not been able to collect any leads thus far.
When asked whether Dias was married and had any children, PI Sinari replied in the negative, but added that her family house is located in Goa Velha. Police is also investigating into the reasons why the deceased had been residing in St Cruz, since her family house is in Goa Velha.
To another query on whether the house owner had submitted the tenant verification details to the police as mandated by law, PI Sinari said the police was in the process of seeking those details from the house owner.
