Team Herald
PANJIM: Five dacoits broke into the house of a fish vendor in Marra, Pilerne, in the wee hours of Monday, looted cash and gold worth Rs 24 lakh before fleeing from the site.
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The Porvorim Police however swooped down on the accused which included two women and booked them for dacoity.
The accused have been identified as Joyce alias Priya D’Souza (32), Kalpana Barki (37), Imran Shaikh (34) from Pune, Subhash Kumar (27) from Uttar Pradesh, and Dhiraj Gupta (20) from Colvale.
According to the police, investigations revealed that Priya alias Joyce D’Souza, a neighbour of the complainant, was aware of the victim’s possession of a large amount of cash and gold due to her close ties with the family. Allegedly, she conspired with her associates Krishna Belgaonkar and Kalpana Barki to execute the crime.
Krishna Belgaonkar subsequently arranged for the remaining accused, while Kalpana Barki and her associate Imran Shaikh arranged a vehicle to carry out the offence.
The dacoits then broke the door of the rented room with an iron rod, entered the house, threatened to kill the inmate Pappu Biswas and his wife. They then robbed the duo at knife point and fled.
Following the crime, the stolen cash and gold were reportedly divided among the accused at a hotel in Calangute.
The police confirmed that Joycee D’Souza has been previously booked under multiple sections of the IPC by Porvorim Police including Immoral Trafficking. Krishna Belgaonkar was involved in a 2018 murder case registered at Calangute Police Station and is currently out on bail.
Similarly, Kalpana Barki was previously involved in the 2018 murder of her husband, a case registered at Curchorem Police Station.
The cops however acted swiftly and tracked down the accused based on the CCTV footage.
Police have managed to recover a portion of the stolen property, along with the knife used to threaten the victim, the iron rod used to break the door, and the vehicle used in the crime. Further recovery efforts are ongoing.
Authorities have also identified three more suspects, and teams have been dispatched to trace and apprehend them. Meanwhile of the five suspected, three have been remanded to six days police custody, while two have been remanded to judicial custody. The vehicle used in the crime has been seized by the police.
