TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The State Police Complaints Authority (SPCA) has begun an inquiry against five police officers whose roles have been brought under the scanner by the police department for their alleged inaction and lapses in the recent Merces double murder case of a labourer couple.
North Goa SP Vishram Borkar appeared before the SPCA Chairman Justice (retd) R M S Khandeparkar on the first day of the hearing on Friday. He submitted the inquiry report in which DySP Umesh Gaonkar, PI Devendra Gad, sub inspector Ramesh Shirodkar, and constables Kedarnath Shiva Jalmi and Nikesh Kashinath Tanodi were indicted for lapses.
SP Borkar was appointed to inquire into the inputs by a journalist who claimed that even after informing a senior police officer about the first murder at Merces, their inaction led to the second killing. The DySP and PI were transferred after the inquiry.
The next hearing will be held on July 25 when the five police officials have been asked to appear before the Chairman for the inquiry.
Contractor Osban Fernandes and labourer Ramesh Bhagwe are charged with murdering daily wage workers Shivaji Nayak and his wife Sujata and attempt to murder their two children, aged 6 and 4 years, in May. The accused are presently in judicial custody.
The accused had first murdered Shivaji and later killed his wife, who witnessed the incident. The journalist informed the police about the first murder and even told them of the spot where the body was buried.
The information was apparently passed on by the DySP to police inspector Devendra Gad, then in-charge of Old Goa Police station, who allegedly ignored it and this resulted in the second killing, it is alleged.
The accused had first murdered Shivaji and later killed his wife, who witnessed the incident. The journalist informed the police about the first murder and even told them of the spot where the body was buried
