Mahanand guilty of raping Shiroda girl
To be convicted on Tuesday
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, OCT 1
The North Goa District & Sessions Court today held guilty Goa’s notorious serial killer Mahanand Naik of raping a college going girl for over three years.
“He is held guilty (for the offence of rape and threatening the only living victim). The court will sentence him on Tuesday,” said the Principal Sessions Judge Nutan Sardessai.
In the present case, the ‘calculated killer’ was netted after his wife’s friend complained to the police over repeated rapes committed by Mahanand in April 2009.
The blackmailing calls she received from the killer over her landline proved to be his waterloo.
Clad in a pink full-sleeve shirt and a blue pair of jeans, Mahanand was escorted in and outside the court hall by two police personnel. The conviction order comes after a string of three acquittals out of 18 cases booked against him.
The 40-year-old rickshaw driver’s spate of crimes – rape, murder and robbery cases – unfolded one-by-one after he was called for questioning in the rape charge by the Shiroda victim.
He was then arrested by the Ponda police followed by his confessions.
The modus operandi of the accused was to lure young and middle-age gullible girls with a bait of marriage. The unsuspecting girls would fall prey to his convincing talks.
On the fixed day, he would ask them to wear jewelleries to impress his parents. He would however take them to secluded places, rape them and use their dupatta to strangulate the victims.
MARCEL CORRESPONDENT ADDS: Ponda Police Inspector C L Patil has expressed happiness over the conviction of Mahanand Naik by the North Goa Sessions Court in a rape case.
The complaint had been filed by the victim from Shiroda in 2009 and while investigating into the rape case, Ponda Police discovered Mahanand Naik’s alleged involvement in serial murders.
As many as 11 murder cases were booked against Mahanand in the Ponda Police Station alone, while five more murder cases were registered at other police stations in South Goa.
Incidentally, Mahanand was subsequently acquitted in three cases for want of evidence.
“I am happy that Mahanand has been convicted in one case and I hope he will be convicted in other cases as well,” said PI Patil.
“This is the outcome of proper investigation carried out by the investigating officer, PSI Dalvi and all other staff. I am hopeful of a similar outcome in other cases. Mahanand is a dreaded criminal,” PI Patil added.
