Team Herald
PANJIM: Mandrem Police’s handling of a murder accused led to a face-off on Monday between cops and villagers, who charged the police with giving preferential treatment to 23-year-old Deepan Batra, who allegedly ran over local resident Maria Joao Fernandes on Friday evening after an argument.
Irate locals who gathered outside the police station claimed Batra was being ferried around in a private air-conditioned vehicle with tinted glass that belonged to a station staffer.
Such was the public fury that the police were forced to turn back and stay inside till things cooled down.
According to the police, this car was being used since the police station vehicle was busy elsewhere.
Monday’s flashpoint was a result of the simmering tension in the area over the weekend because of the death of 65-year-old Fernandes. Batra, a Delhi resident, is accused of mowing her down with his car after an altercation over their pet dogs.
What stoked the locals’ fury was the police’s handling of the case. After his arrest on Saturday, Batra was remanded in judicial custody, as Mandrem PI Sherif Jacques informed the Pernem Court the same day that the investigation was complete. This has raised eyebrows about the probe into a sensitive and sensational crime that has turned into an emotive issue among local residents.
On Monday though, police did a flip-flop and moved an application before the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Judge Shabnam Nagvekar in Pernem, seeking police custody of Batra, which was granted. When locals got a whiff that Batra had been brought to the Mandrem PS, they gathered there in large numbers and reiterated that they were not sure that police would do a free and fair investigation into the case.
Since the Mandrem PS does not have a police lock-up, Batra was being transferred to the Pernem police station in the private vehicle when the locals blocked the way and forced the cops to turn back. Infuriated villagers accused the police of giving preferential treatment to those with connections.
SP North Akshat Kaushal later said, “Locals surrounded the vehicle while the accused was being taken from Mandremto the Pernem police station lock-up. However, after they were reasoned with, the crowd dispersed and the accused was sent to the police lock-up.”
SP Kaushal said that Mandrem police had already seized the vehicle used by Batra and had also recovered crucial CCTV footage in which the incident has been captured.