TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: If the infamous 2010 Moti Dongor gang war case has ended in an acquittal, blame it on shoddy investigations by the Margao police.
That investigations in the sensational cases were goofed up became evident with the Fast Track Court headed by Judge Vincent D’Silva highlighting a host of glaring discrepancies in the probe.
In fact, Judge D’Silva has observed that neither recovery of the dandas, iron rod and sword were proved nor the police produced the hurt certificate of the injured. In another glaring discrepancy, no test identification parade was conducted and neither the recovery panchama was sealed, while the clothes of the injured were never attached. “There’s discrepancy in the evidence of the complainant; the spot of the incident has not been proved and the names of the accused in the chargesheet have not been corrected,” the Judge added.
Investigation officer, PSI Mahesh Gadekar had claimed in the court that the name of the persons mentioned in the complaint and name of the persons chargesheeted are the same. The court, however, said the investigation officer did not produce any documents to prove they are the same persons. “A bare perusal of the complaint and the chargesheet indicates that their names are different. No test identification parade has been conducted by the investigation officer. The complainant and other witnesses have identified the accused for the first time in the court. No efforts have been made by the Prosecution to correct the chargesheet in tune with the complaint nor any documents produced to show that they are the same persons,” the Judge observed.
Non-attachment of the blood-soaked clothes has also given a benefit to the accused. The investigation officer Mahesh Gadekar had told the court that he does not remember the clothes worn by the complainant at the time of the incident and that there were no bloodstains on the clothes. Judge D’Silva, however, said that complainant Maqbool has stated that his shirt and pant was soaked in blood and they were not attached by the police, adding “non-attachment of the blood-soaked clothes by the police therefore remains unexplained”.
It is well settled that the sealing of items attached under Panchanama is essential in order to avoid any manipulation of the attached items, but Judge D’Silva said there is no sealing admittedly done by the investigation officer. “The incident occurred allegedly on December 28, 2010 and the alleged panchanama was conducted on January 27, 2011 from the place which was not guarded by the police. As rightly pointed out by defence lawyer, Adv Tilve, the recovery of the swords and the rod cannot be attributed to the accused,” the Judge observed.
The Prosecution has also failed to identify the exact spot of the assault. While the complainant deposed that he was assaulted by the accused in the bus, two of the prosecution witnesses said the complainant was found outside the bus.
Judge D’Silva said that examination of the witness showed there were about six dandas. However, only four dandas were produced on record, with the witness admitting that the attached dandas are easily available in the market.
The 2010 Moti Dongor gang war had hit the headlines after warring groups clashed atop the hillock on December 28 that year. While a total of seven accused were named in the complaint lodged by Maqbool Sirsi, the chargesheet was filed only against six accused, since the seventh accused turned out a juvenile.
