VIBHA VERMA
PANJIM: It’s been four months the Anjuna Police have been groping in the dark for clues to get their hands on Ranjit Tuenkar, the accused in the Assagao murder case. And, now, to add to their woes, the Tuenkar family ~ mother and sister ~ has gone missing.
Anjuna Police who are still clueless on the whereabouts of the 26-year-old accused, are perturbed as the accused’s mother and sister who could have possibly provided leads in the case are also untraceable.
Inspector Vishwesh Karpe said the team is ‘making endless efforts’ to trace Ranjit and his family.
The police are presently investigating whether they family has been kidnapped or whether they have moved away on their own; however they are yet to be traced.
Ranjit is wanted in the murder of a 19-year-old Rekha Kharat near Assagao on January 17. He is on the run since then, even as the Anjuna police say they have been receiving several calls informing them that he has been spotted many times in the police station jurisdiction.
A couple of weeks after committing the murder, Ranjit allegedly assaulted a 12-year-old girl and a boy in Siolim and Camurlim. He apparently also assaulted and threatened a man for disclosing his whereabouts to the police.
Incidentally, Ranjit was earlier arrested in a drugs case.
Combing operations including searches conducted in Kullu Manali and border areas to track him proved futile.
Inspector Karpe said that a charge sheet would be filed only after Ranjit is traced and arrested.
“All evidence has been collected and what only remains is the suspect’s arrest. We will then have to verify his role in the murder…We are 99 per cent sure he has committed the murder,” he added.
The motive of the murder remains a mystery. A senior police officer told Herald that whoever is involved in sheltering Ranjit would be booked for abetment.
