PANJIM: While the arrest of Francis Pereira for the desecration of crosses in South Goa could give police a breather, getting a conviction in the case is altogether another challenge.
The acquittal of Kavesh Gosavi, who was arrested for his alleged involvement in a spate of temple desecrations during the term of the former Congress government, was also hyped, but left the police department red-faced over its failure to prove the case in court. The investigation team is now gearing up to prepare a watertight case against Pereira to avoid any further embarrassment.
“We have cracked a major case, which if not, could have provoked disturbance in the State. The alleged vandal has confessed to the crime but we do not want to repeat the Gosavi episode. He was acquitted in the cases for want of evidence. We will ensure that this case reaches its logical conclusion,” said an officer seeking anonymity.
Gosavi, who was subjected to scientific tests, came out clean embarrassing the police. Herald has access to one of reports on the psychological evaluation reports which clearly states the examination on all the questions related to the case were ‘inconclusive’.
“The subject Kavesh Gosavi was taken up for the polygraph examination on February 6, 2009. Analyses of his responses on the relevant questions, related to him being involved in making arrangements to cause harm to Mahadev Temple at Paroda, him having asked anybody to cause harm to the temple, him having asked to make arrangements to cause harm to the temple and him having been a part of this entire incident in any way, were found to be ‘inconclusive’, indicating that his responses cannot be classified as ‘truthful’ or ‘deceptive,” the polygraph report, exclusively accessed by Herald, stated.
Gosavi did admit that he was in jail for another offence and thereafter encountered a number of people who had criminal records. Gosavi had conceded during his interrogation that he was associated with them as “these friends give him protection from other people troubling him as he always wanted to avoid any threat to himself”. However, this did not establish any link with the desecrations cases.
The Forensic Science Laboratory, Mumbai, where he was subjected to the examination concluded that Gosavi denied his involvement or even having planned or made arrangements or of knowing who was involved in the temple desecration case.
It is learnt that Gosavi was also taken to Gandhinagar, Gujarat for narco analysis test but a CD of the tests conducted on him was denied to him as the case was still on.
After his acquittal, Gosavi approached the authorities alleging he was unnecessarily detained and tortured in custody. He had lodged a complaint against the then Crime Branch Superintendent Mangaldas Desai (now retired), Police Inspectors Sandesh Chodankar, Uday Naik, Deepak Pednekar, constables Sanjay Parab and Albert with the State Police Complaints Authority, trial of which is still underway.
Gosavi was not available for comments.
