PANJIM: Nearly 17 months after a charge-sheet was filed in the vicious attack on Goa Police, the court’s procedure of framing charge against 51 Nigerians and one Ghanaian has come to a grinding halt. The reason is shocking – at least 19 of those booked for the murderous attack of October 31, 2013 have vanished.
The hapless authorities concede that while a few ‘happily’ turn up to attend the hearing, some others are lodged in the sub-jail for different crimes while the remaining men are just not traceable. Their absence has not only delayed framing of charges against the 52 accused named in the charge-sheet, but will also affect commencement of the trial.
Reliable sources disclosed that non-bailable warrants issued by the judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) Mapusa on the absconding accused’s temporary local addresses are returned, giving the police sleepless nights.
“Unless all accused are present in the court, framing of the charges cannot continue. In all 19 of the 52 accused have given the authorities a slip. Attempts to trace their whereabouts have not fetched positive result yet, but efforts are on,” said a government source, who is closely monitoring the happenings in the court and with the Nigerian Embassy.
In such a situation, local sureties were pulled up by the JMFC and the bail amounts deposited in court were forfeited but there were few others, who were released on ‘personal bond’ without any local surety. This has come as a major setback for the police department as its former Porvorim police team failed to collect the accused persons’ accurate details while the blame is also to be shared by landlords who rented out their premises to a foreigner by ignoring mandatory rules before letting out their premises.
In a desperate attempt to trace the absconders, Porvorim police through the Foreigner Regional Registration Office (Goa Police) have written to the Nigerian Embassy seeking its assistance. “The police submitted whatever details it had gathered (about the accused) during the course of investigation, to the embassy. We hope to find their native address and track them down to present them before the court. The authenticity of visas is also under investigation,” an official said.
The then investigating team of Porvorim police had, in September 2016, filed a charge-sheet against 51 Nigerians and one Ghanaian who had blocked NH on October 31, 2013 to protest the murder of their Nigerian compatriot Obodo Uzoma Simeon. Simeon was found dead at Parra village with multiple stab wounds.
The charge-sheet running into 319 pages was filed under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including those for unlawful assembly, rioting, wrongful restraint, criminal intimidation, deterring public servants from discharging their duties, attempt to murder, Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and Section 8 (b) of the National Highway Act, 1956. Statements of 92 witnesses were also recorded.
