Team Herald
PANJIM: With more details emerging in the Margao jeweller’s murder, it now appears that it was a planned robbery that ended in murder when the businessman retaliated.
The planned robbery at Krishni Jewellers, which ended in murder, was allegedly the brainchild of Evender Rodrigues, who chose Mustafa Sheikh to execute the crime on September 2.
Sheikh, the man who surrendered a day after the killing of the store’s proprietor Swapnil Walke, had recently walked out of jail on completion of his sentence in a culpable homicide case. The two other accused in the current crime – Omkar Patil and Rodrigues – are involved in thefts and cheating.
Credible sources disclosed to Herald that Rodrigues allegedly hired Sheikh to execute the crime while the two had planned to escape with the booty robbed by Sheikh. However, the plan failed after Walke – despite injuries – retaliated with his bare hands.
“The accused are from one gang but Rodrigues chose Sheikh to execute the crime since he has already been involved in a murder case in the past. When Sheikh fired at Walke, the victim caught hold of the shooter till outside the shop. Since Walke was still strong enough to grab Sheikh, the accused took out a knife and stabbed the jeweller. By then, Sheikh’s shirt was already in the hands of the victim,” the source said.
Seeing Sheikh in trouble, as the crowd began to gather, Rodrigues, who along with Patil was waiting in a vehicle to rush out from the crime scene after the robbery, came to the rescue of his accomplice. The source said that Rodrigues tried to separate Walke and Sheikh during which the victim – who was still conscious – asked who he was. To this, Rodrigues claimed he had come to part the two individuals.
“The three accused wanted to run away after carrying out the robbery but it didn’t go as planned. Their plan was that Sheikh commits the crime, while the two in the car would then pick him up with the booty and rush out of the crime scene. They didn’t expect that Walke would fight back,” the source said.
Rodrigues, charged with cheating people on pretext of giving them Portuguese passports at Vasco, is likely to be arrested by Vasco Police, while Patil and his gang might be taken into custody for thefts by Agassaim and Panjim Police teams in the next few days.
Meanwhile, sources said that scared of the gunshot, Patil was the first to run away. “He probably was scared of the shooting, and hence he was the first to run away after Sheikh shot a round at Walke,” the source said.
The accused, as reported by Herald on Tuesday, had conducted a recce to zero-in on Krishni Jewellers for the robbery. Another shop, close by was lucky to escape the crime as they reportedly confessed to the police that they wanted a shop that was not crowded. Four days before targeting Walke, Sheikh had entered the former’s store impersonating as customer. His main intention was to check the number of working staff, customers if any and other details before the crime.
The three accused are currently in custody of Crime Branch and are undergoing interrogation.
