PANJIM: The Goa bench of Bombay High Court granted anticipatory bail to alleged accused Nikhil Naik, who was among a few local youths arrested for kidnapping and assaulting a minor and another boy in an incident at Cabo-de-Rama last month.
According to the complaint lodged by an NGO, the accused has wrongfully restrained the two boys – who the villagers suspected were thieves, beat them with wooden sticks, tied them to a bike and paraded them naked in the village. More so, the entire sequence was filmed on a mobile phone which later went viral.
During the bail argument, counsel appearing for the accused Galileo Teles pointed out lapses on the part of investigating officer to describe the exact role played by Naik in the crime as the rope, clothes of the victims and the vehicles used in the crime were recovered at the instance of the other accused.
Accepting the arguments, bench noted that the police reply before it did not give the correct picture of the incident that took place on May 22. “It is curious to note that the statements of the police and persons who had arrived at the crime spot and who took the victim boys to the police station are also not recorded,” the bench observed while granting him conditional bail on personal bond of Rs 20,000 and a surety of like amount.
