Team Herald
PANJIM: Mystery shrouds the missing of priest turned social activist Fr Jose Bismark Dias, who led several major agitations against the successive governments. Dias has gone missing since Thursday evening prompting a massive search operation by the police to locate his whereabouts.
But the recovery of his mobile phone, motorbike, wallet, sandals and other belongings from a bandh at St Estevam raises a strong suspicion that he could have been a victim of an untoward incident
or crime.
Old Goa Police Inspector Krishna Sinhari confirmed receiving a missing persons’ complaint lodged by his relative on Friday. Prima facie, the police does not suspect foul
play .
The information that a bandh, near the sluice gate of his village – where he was last seen – holds relevance essentially because Dias was in a tussle with a private builder over the construction of a road.
The police team headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police Serafin Dias and PI Sinari rushed to the spot to take a stock of the situation. The divers were also pressed into service to search for him in the waters.
His sudden disappearance has baffled the residents of Old Goa as he has been actively involved in a number of protests against some of the major government projects and policies including Special Economic Zone, Regional Plan and the proposed Mopa airport amongst other local issues.
The activist also got embroiled in a long feud with Cumbarjua legislator Pandurang Madkaikar against whom he contested the 2012 general assembly elections. The activist priest had contested the State assembly elections as an Independent candidate and had fiercely campaigned for himself on a bicycle. During the code of conduct, his house was also attacked by unknown miscreants. This was strongly opposed by the NGOs.
Before he went missing, Dias along with Sudip Dalvi and other activists of the Musical Warriors group, were supposed to hold a musical protest against Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, on the land of Amarnath Naik whose land was brazenly and illegally taken away by the state as a part of the land acquisition for the Electronic City project in Tuem. Dalvi was one of the first people to rush to the spot to look for
Fr Bismark.
