VIBHA VERMA
vibha@herald-goa.com
ANJUNA/ARPORA: The post-mortem report of Praful Jana, Shireen Mody’s gardener, appears to be baffling as police say that he may have died of suspected poisoning. Although their deaths at Arpora first appeared to be a double murder, the line of investigation is now being changed with the police deciding to probe all the angles.
The police are now looking into possibilities whether Jana was administered poison or a poisonous-like substance or he consumed it himself before allegedly killing his employer.
The State woke up to a rude shock when Mody was found dead in the storeroom, barely 10 metres away from her bungalow in the same property at Arpora, a week ago. At about 100 metres from the crime scene, her gardener was also found dead with froth oozing out of his mouth.
The Anjuna police termed it a case of murder against Jana substantiating its findings based on CCTV footage and witnesses’ statements including the complainant, an 18-year-old maid. The probe also mentioned that Jana, who was seen by witnesses jumping over the fence and running into the fields, died of collapse.
It was the post-mortem report pointing at poison-like substance in his organs that baffled the police. The samples have been sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory at Verna for chemical analysis that would throw more light into his death.
The investigation team has modified their probe to determine if Jana was also murdered. “We are investigating all the angles. Recording of statements of more witnesses and collection of evidence are on. As the investigation progresses and on receipt of the chemical analysis report, we will be able to officially confirm if Jana was poisoned or he consumed it on his own before killing Mody,” a reliable source in the department informed Herald.
A senior officer, however, refuted the double murder angle emphasising that Jana could have consumed poison or any chemical in order to avoid arrest. “The maid is one witness in the case as she saw Jana coming out of the storeroom with a blood-stained medal rod in his hand. Another witness has deposed that while running into the fields, a scared Jana told him (witness) that he (witness) will put him in jail. Through these statements it is highly possible that Jana came to work on the fateful day with the intention of killing Mody and possibly consumed poison so that he does not face any police action,” he said.
The police are tight-lipped on whether the forensic team has found any substance from the crime scene to strengthen the poisoning angle that has brought a new twist in the case.
The complainant, details with Herald reveal, tried to confront Jana after he was seen exiting the storeroom but ran away after he attempted to assault her. Unfortunately, the storeroom where Mody had entered for unknown reason has no CCTV even as the footage captured from other parts of the premises indicates the gardener killed her.
“The CCTV footage shows that Jana followed Mody in the storeroom and walked out with the metal rod. There is only one entry and exit,” the source said. The maid, another witness, said that Jana killed Mody soon after the painter’s family found the body in a pool of blood.
With uncertainty over the manner of Jana’s death, it is learnt that the Anjuna police have decided to investigate it as unnatural. “Modification in the First Information Report or another FIR will be decided after the report,” the source said.
