Police finally register Siddhi Naik’s death as murder

Father wins first round in his fight to get justice for daughter’s death

Published on:

02 Jan 2022, 12:31 am

Team Herald

Mapusa: Nearly four-and-a-half months later the Calangute police have finally registered the mysterious death of the 19-year-old Siddhi Naik as murder case on Saturday following an official inquiry.

It can be recalled that on August 12, 2021, body of Siddhi Naik was found in semi nude condition at the Calangute beach and in this connection, police had earlier registered a case of unnatural death.

However since the body was found in semi nude condition with no traces of how she had reached Calangute, her death had taken Goa by storm and people across the State had carried out agitations, demanding justice for the young girl. Herald was in the forefront of demand for thorough probe into the incident.

Calangute police has registered an FIR on December 28 2021, under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code against unknown accused.

A senior police officer said, “The post-mortem examination had certified that the death occurred due to asphyxia as a result of drowning in water. However, her father Sandeep Naik in September lodged a complaint against unknown accused claiming that she was murdered by forcibly drowning her in the seawater at the Calangute beach”.

During the Assembly session in October, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant had said that the Goa police were inquiring on the basis of merit of the Siddhi Naik death case and hence there was no need to hand over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Sawant had said that further investigation was in progress in all aspects in order to unearth the truth in this case.

The attempt to bury the murder angle which Siddhi Naik’s father & Herald resisted:

>> Goa police ruled out the murder angle in the first instance and dismissed the death as suicidal

>> Looked for the CCTV footage in and around the scene of crime after 8 days

>> The Forensic Dept of GMC went by the police death report which did not even suspect homicide.

>>“They did not find any injuries, marks or other signs which warranted the preservation of the viscera,” a senior doctor in the Forensics Department told Herald

>>“The ‘theory of probability’ should have been applied and the viscera preserved. Why did the Forensics team first want to reserve the viscera and then change their mind?” - Impeccable sources in the department

8Why did the Investigating Officer specifically ask for the viscera of Siddhi Naik to be preserved?

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A FATHER’S FIGHT FOR JUSTICE

>> Aug 26: Herald had asked North Goa SP to register this as a murder case and instruct Calangute PI to proceed accordingly. There cannot be ANY COMPROMISE on this. That can happen if by law it asks the victim’s father if he is willing to submit an amended statement that he suspects his child was murdered, based on a better assessment of the situation, since he himself has been on the ground.

Father subsequently filed a murder complaint and had to struggle to get it registered

>> Sept 2: Father of Siddhi Naik lodged a formal complaint of murder of his daughter at the Calangute police station

>> Sept 15: The Medical Board Committee constituted to revisit the medical findings in the girl’s death, submitted its report stating that the ‘manner of her death’ needs to be looked at by the police.

The report submitted to the GMC Dean stated the cause of Siddhi’s death was due to drowning.

But Herald insisted that police must investigate the “manner of death”.