PANJIM: The family of the 19-year-old girl who was found dead on Calangute beach on Thursday has demanded a thorough investigation in the matter given the circumstances in which the events unfolded, wherein she first went missing in Mapusa and then her body was found on Calangute beach.
They refuse to see it as a case of suicide as some sections of society have allegedly portrayed it to be and believe the case warrants further investigations to clear many queries about what really happened as they do not accept the conclusions of the police either.
The demands were made by the younger sister and the uncle of the girl present at a briefing by Revolutionary Goans.
“I request the government to initiate a proper inquiry into the incident and not just close the case based on the post-mortem report,” said the uncle.
“She was very loving and took care of her family. She had already made plans for her sister’s birthday which is today. No way could she have committed suicide. Secondly, she was dressed for work when she went missing. Does anyone change or remove their clothes when they commit suicide?” he asked.
Referring to the fact that a case of unnatural death was registered and the drowning was attributed as the cause of death, RG president Viresh Borkar said that while the post-mortem reports have indicated death due to drowning, he questioned if the authorities had done a proper investigation. “No one knows how seriously this case was investigated,” Borkar said.
“All the CCTV footage in the coastal area should be checked to know what happened to her or who was with her at that time. The Chief Minister has not even issued any statement in this regard. The Home Department is a total failure,” said RG Women’s Wing leader Sunayana Gawde.
“Every day we read of crime against women and children in the State. There are many questions unanswered in this case. All happened over a period of two days and her family is still in shock. The police should have given her father some more time before recording his statement,” she added.
Borkar and Gawde lamented about how the rapid rise in crime in the State has cast aspersions about how safe Goa is.
“We thought we were lucky to live in Goa as we were feeling safer in our state. But sadly, the feeling has changed now after seeing the series of incidents being reported in the state over the last two months,” Gawde added.
“Over the past two months the crime rate has been increasing at an alarming rate in our state. Our children, women and elderly do not have the freedom to even roam outdoors these days,” said Borkar.
Borkar also took exception to the manner in which Chief Minister Pramod Sawant tends to blame others for crimes and for his recent comments about the occurrence of rape cases in Goa. “It is high time the State government and the police shoulder some responsibility,” Borkar added.
