TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
PONDA: The Crime Branch team of Pune Police took custody of Narayan Janala and shifted him to Pune, in connection with the murder of anti-superstition activist Dr Dabholkar.
Janala was arrested by Ponda police last Monday in connection with kidnapping and use of a firearm at Curti-Ponda. Janala was shifted to judicial custody after his remand of seven days police custody ended on Monday morning.
According to Ponda Police, the Pune Crime Branch had obtained transfer orders from the Ponda JMFC and took custody of Janala, who was lodged at Sada-Sub jail at Vasco on Monday afternoon.
It may be recalled that Ponda Police on November 4 had arrested four persons from Pune on charges of kidnap, trespass and use of a firearm at Curti-Ponda.
The three arrested persons included the parents and uncle of the victim girl, while Janala was believed to have been hired for the purpose.
The 19-year-old girl from Pune had reportedly married a 21-year-old boy against the wishes of her parents.
Since Janala was a resident of Pune, the Ponda police team had contacted Pune police to obtain his antecedents.
According to Ponda police, the pistol is country made (7.65 bore) and was similar to that used to gun down Dr Dabholkar in August.
A Pune Police team (ATS) had arrived in the State a day after Janala’s arrest and had interrogated Janala for over two hours in connection with Dr Dabholkar murder case.
Subsequently, another Pune police team (Crime Branch) had gone to Ponda and since the accused was already interrogated by ATS team, the Pune Crime Branch team left with a FIR copy of the case registered against Janala and 3 others at Ponda police station.
