Team Herald
MAPUSA: The family of 28-year-old Allan D’Souza, who was found dead near the Baga-Arpora Bridge on Thursday night, have called on the Anjuna Police to treat and investigate the case as a suspected murder, rather than suppress the suspicious death as a road accident.
The police initially told Herald it was an accident case, but when questioned as to how an accident victim could be found 200 metres away from his motorcycle, they fumbled and said that they would ‘look’ into the matter.
While the post-mortem examination was conducted on Friday, the Anjuna Police is waiting for the chemical analysis of the remains to ascertain the exact cause of death, even as the family is convinced that Allan was murdered.
For one, the police have no explanation for the 200m distance between Allan’s body and his motorbike, and there were also telltale signs on his body, pointing to a suspicious death. Herald is in possession of photographs of Allan’s body, that clearly show the nails on his fingers and toes seem to have been violently scraped off.
“When we saw his body, it was obvious that there was foul play. The skin of his face had turned blue, and his fingernails were missing, like they had been torn off. There were also scratches on his body. We appeal to the police to conduct a thorough investigation, and bring his killers to justice, for the sake of his family, and his unborn child,” said an emotional Emmanual D’Souza, Allan’s brother.
Allan D’Souza, who hailed from Badem in Assagao, arrived in Goa on August 22, and was supposed to return to Dubai, where he lived with his wife, on August 27. The couple was expecting the arrival of their first child in two months.
On Thursday, Allan had lunch at the family’s restaurant, and then left for a ride on his Enfield motorbike.
“He said he was going out, and would return soon. We received a call from the Anjuna Police at around 10 pm on Thursday, and were called to the Candolim Health Centre to identify the body they found near the Baga Bridge,” D’Souza said.
Police sources said they received information from the control room at around 8.40 pm, about someone lying near Jameson’s Restaurant, near the Baga Bridge. They rushed the youth to the Candolim Health Centre, where doctors declared him ‘brought dead’.
The Anjuna Police registered a case of unnatural death under Section 174 of the IPC, after conducting the panchanama, and shifted the body to the Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim, for the autopsy.
LPSI Sneha Sawal is investigating the case. “The post mortem has been conducted and the viscera will be sent to Verna for chemical analysis, which will ascertain the exact cause of death. It is not a case of road accident, since the doctors who conducted the post mortem have not found any accident marks. We are verifying where he had gone and with whom. There is no CCTV that covers the spot where the body was found. There was another camera close by, but it has recordings only till 10 am on Thursday,” LPSI Sawal said.
Anjuna Police Station Police Inspector when contacted on Wednesday night to find out about the progress into the inquiry of the case, said he was ‘very busy’ with the Sonali Poghat case and had entrusted the responsibility to his PSI.