Team Herald
PANJIM: The Bombay High Court at Goa has directed Crime Branch of Goa Police to conduct radiological examination on the body of Fr Bismarque Dias and to submit the report on Friday.
Pointing out that a two-member committee of Goa medical College and Hospital had proposed radiological examination of the body, the petitioner demanded that the same should be conducted.
However, the Division Bench was also focused on the last rites of the body. The court questioned whether there is really a need to preserve the body, stating to have some respect to the deceased.
Earlier, while directing Crime Branch to register Bismarque’s death as a murder, the High Court had asked it to submit a compliance report every three months.
On April 11, 2017, the High Court had asked Crime Branch to register an FIR in Fr Bismarque’s death case based on the November 7, 2015 complaint filed by the family of the late priest.
Mario Dias, Fr Bismarque’s younger brother had filed a complaint at Old Goa Police Station alleging that the death was a murder and not death due to drowning. However, police had not registered the death as murder and later the case was transferred to the Crime Branch.
After a detailed investigation, the Crime Branch had concluded that Fr Bismarque’s death was due to drowning and a closure report was submitted to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Tiswadi.
Observing that the family members had filed a complaint alleging that Bismarque’s death was due to murder and that the body was found in suspicious conditions, the High Court had directed the police to register it as a murder and to investigate the case as such.
It may be recalled that Sudeep Dalvi, Kennedy Afonso and Samir Kelekar, all friends of Fr Bismarque had approached the High Court with a petition to direct Crime Branch to register the death as a murder for further investigation. At the same time, after almost 45 days, the family members had filed a petition of a similar nature before the same court and both were clubbed and heard together.
Fr Bismarque, a well known activist went missing on November 5, 2015 under mysterious circumstances in St Estevam Island. His body was found two days later in a tributary of River Mandovi.
Fr Bismarque’s body has still not been claimed by the family as it has demanded a thorough investigation and now a probe through a central agency.
