A senior Crime Branch officer said that the motive for the murder, as per the confession of accused Vinayak Karbatkar contradicts the findings of the investigation. He ruled out revenge as the motive for the murder.
“We have come to the conclusion that the accused Karbatkar acted upon the instance of someone who is not in the jail. We are in process of collecting related evidence before finalizing it,” the officer said.
He said that the Crime Branch team has investigated and collected evidence, including scientific, forensic, technical, with the help of local intelligence from various gangs operating in North Goa.
Sources said that cell phones operating in particular areas during the particular period have been accessed and scrutinized by Crime Branch in a view to establish the cell number and only after verification did the agency speak of the motive for the murder being other than the one confessed to.
Crime Branch has recorded the statements of seven witnesses who saw Karbatkar attacking Bengre. The statement of all have been recorded under section 164 CrPC before the magistrate, officials said.
Bengre was murdered on July 26 at Colvale jail where he was under trial in a series of cases. He had been booked by Goa, Karnataka and Punjab Police in almost 19 cases whereas Karbatkar was under trial at same jail, booked by Goa and Maharashtra Police, in 13 different cases.
