Herald: Can you tell us about Felix Dahl?
Sana Cutter: Felix Dahl was a 22-year-old Finnish national who was found mysteriously dead in Patnem on January 28, 2015. A study reveals that in Goa on an average four deaths of foreigners occur a week and 246 foreigners have been found dead in Goa in the last 12 years. Sadly the investigation in each of these cases has been terrible. Felix was the eldest son of my sister and that’s when I stepped in after we heard the news of Felix been found dead in Goa.
Herald: What have you been doing since Felix died?
SC: I closely follow the news attached to the crime scenario in Goa and keep track of all the news related to crime, murders and especially deaths of foreigners in Goa.
Herald: After studying quite a few death cases of foreigners in Goa and meeting the victims’ families what are your thoughts on police investigations in Goa?
SC: The police are not trained how to handle death cases and murders in Goa. The area or room (the crime scene) where the body is found is never documented or photographed properly. Often vital clues and evidence go missing, more because there are corrupt connections within the Goa Police. Also, the autopsy carried out in Goa is abysmal and often influenced by corrupt lobbies and the foreign victim is always portrayed in bad light.
Herald: You mean to say Dahl and other foreigners who died in Goa were not portrayed in the right manner?
SC: In Goa a few days after a foreigner dies, the foreigner is shown as someone who was mentally imbalanced abusing drugs, roaming half naked on the beach and having terrible company. The foreigner from being a murder victim is portrayed as a foreign national who is involved in all kinds of irregularities and a bad tourist flouting all the rules.
Herald: Have you tried reaching out to like-minded people in Goa to take up the issue in Goa?
SC: Goa was a paradise and had a high number of tourists coming in from all over the world. Goa even has a large expat community living in Goa for many years. The problem is that the expat community in Goa is involved in some kind of business. Some is carried out illegally without the right licences and permissions. It has been said that some of the expat community members are also paying out the Goa Police and involved in paying bribes. It seems for this reason that the expat community in Goa has not been demanding action from the authorities until now after this latest murder.
Herald: You mentioned of the Goa cops botching up the autopsy?
SC: In Goa the autopsy is conducted in a very bad manner. The worst aspect is that when we receive bodies of the victims in our countries, there is nothing but skin and bones with all the internal body parts pulled out. They are thrown in a bin or lying for some viscera tests, which in turn means that our doctors back home have nothing to analyse and investigate in terms of internal injuries.
Herald: In Dahl’s case what have you and your sister done to ensure he gets justice?
SC: Not just in Felix’s case but in every death of a foreigner, we’ve investigated and intervened even when the cases are filed as accidents of rash driving or drug overdose. We’ve written letters to the various
police stations in Goa, the DGP, the Home Department, CBI, Crime Branch, the Central government, Union Minister of Home and the PMO. We’ve send e-mails, recorded messages, testimonials of the victim’s family, we’ve sent it through registered post and have acknowledgement receipts but we’ve never got a reply.
Herald: What is your mission besides justice to Felix?
SC: The fight for justice will carry on and I want the global community to be aware of what’s happening in Goa. How the drug mafia is killing innocent foreigners. It’s not a paradise and all is not good.
Herald: What really came out of the meeting of victims’ mothers? What was really discussed in London?
SC: We discussed what we have all done so far and what has been achieved by individual families of the victims and how we will go forward as a group. So far no one has ever been prosecuted for a western tourist’s murder in Goa. We all agreed that giving up the fight for justice is not an option and how we can highlight the dangers that the young foreign travellers can face in Goa. Goa is marketed as a safe holiday destination a paradise, which it isn’t.
