PANJIM: Auda Viegas, veteran Women’s Rights activist, weighed in on the controversial Nidhi Gupta death case now being investigated as murder, and pointed to underlying trend where the final cause of eeath reports are delayed.
In a letter to the Chief Minister and Health Minister of Goa Viegas, president of NGO ‘Bailancho Ekvott’ mentioned two other cases where such delays were witnessed and which eventually compromised those cases.
“The common factor in all these three cases is that delay of months to years on part of GMC doctors providing conclusive medical opinion required for police to decide whether death was natural cause or unnatural cause. Offences which are registered after months or years, never ends with giving justice to the victim as they remain non-conclusive for lack of evidence by the investigation agency,” Auda Viegas said.
1) Death case of Felix Dahl, 22 years old Swedish and Finnish national
Dahl who died on January 28, 2015 in the jurisdiction of Canacona Police Station. In the Dahl case too final opinion was issued after two years, following which the High Court directed Canacona Police to register murder FIR.
“Since Goa police could not get evidence after investigating for one year, the same was handed over to CBI. Due to loss of evidence and the delay, the CBI too, after investigating the case for two years, filed a closure report in court in April 2023”, Viegas, in her letter, stated.
2) Viegas also mentioned in her letter the case of teenaged girl Siddhi Naik on December 28, 2021 in the Jurisdiction of Calangute Police Station, where murder case was registered after four and half months. Fate of this case has ended with closure report by Crime branch of Goa Police in the year 2023 for lack of evidence.
In her letter, Viegas has requested the Chief Minister to conduct a high level inquiry into the death case of Nidhi Gupta 28-year-old married woman from Haryana, to look into why it takes more than two years to register a murder case, in spite family members claiming existence of foul play at day one.
Speaking to Herald, Auda Viegas said that it is high time that the government and health department should ask their heads of the departments and initiate a high-level inquiry into such case where there is a delay in delivering the final report on the cause of death.
“With a heavy heart, I am requesting you to conduct a high level inquiry as to why it took more than two years, for doctors of GMC, to decide on cause of death one Nidhi Gupta (married for one year) Haryana tourist female who died in jurisdiction of Pernem Police Station in the last week of April 2022, thereby resulting in delay of 27 months in registration of murder offence by Pernem Police, that too after father of deceased knocked door of the Hon'ble High Court,” letter to the Chief Minister and Health Minister reads.
She further said that this is not one of kind incidence in the delay in registration of murder case for want of proper medical reports.
Viegas has requested to issue necessary directions to the Chief Secretary, DGP of Goa Police and the Dean of GMC to inquire into the matter as to why such delays are happening time and again and what to decide measures to ensure that such incidence do not happen in future.
It may be recalled that Nidhi Gupta (28), a Haryana native died in mysterious circumstances in a report at Arambol in April 2022 whereas the FIR against her husband was registered on July 24, 2024 following the HC direction.
The complaint was filed by the deceased father suspecting a murder of her daughter on the same day of death. However, Pernem Police were waiting for the final report from the Forensic department of GMCH to conclude the exact cause of death.
It has also come to light that the Deputy Collector had sent five reminders to the Forensic department to deliver the final report in the death case.