TEAM HERALD
teamheald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Kidnapping cases of seven girls including two sisters, two sexual violence incidents and kidnapping of boys reported during the last week have baffled the Goa police with accused in majority of cases being unidentified.
The minor girls, aged between 15 and 17 years, were kidnapped from places – Old Goa, Calangute, Anjuna, Mormugoa, Quepem and Maina Curtolim.
In the case registered at Old Goa police station, mother of the victim has suspected one Sham Naik of kidnapping her 16-year-old daughter. In another case at Anjuna police station, one Anand Yadav has been charged with kidnapping a 16-year-old girl from Arpora. In the other cases, the accused are unidentified.
The police have not been able to get a breakthrough even as teams have been formed to trace whereabouts of the kidnapped victims.
A senior IPS officer said that phone tower locations of the accused and the victims are being tracked down.
A preliminary inquiry into all the cases has ruled out links with each other. Meanwhile, police have begun recording statements of witnesses and alerted their counterparts in the neighbouring states where the victims are suspected to have been taken by the alleged kidnappers.
Sources said that police teams stationed at border check posts, railway stations and inter state bus routes in an effort to locate them.
In the case of sexual violence, a Margao-based victim has accused one Shivajirao Ghoge of molestation and sexual harassment. The accused is a native of Pune.
In another case, a rescued kidnapped victim has reported an incident that occurred in 2007-09 and on February 14, 2012, wherein, as per the complaint, one Sunil Patki befriended her, kidnapped and raped her on the false pretext of marriage. The victim was a minor at the time of the crime.
A eleven-year-old boy was kidnapped by unidentified bikers at Pernem whereas another 25-year-old Imtiaz Ahmed’s kidnapping has been reported at Baina.
According to sources at Anjuna Police, the accused is yet to be arrested, while sources at Pernem police informed that the 11-year-old boy, who was reportedly kidnapped by two persons on September 17, returned home later at night.
