PANJIM: The North Goa police teams have won accolades for making quick arrests in the St Cruz gang war; but few know that the accused had in fact surrendered. More so, the mastermind behind the attack is not Mercelino Dias, as claimed by the police, but a notorious gangster who has a series of serious charges pending against him.
Reliable sources in the Police Department informed Herald that the accused were found in Maruti Omni at Porvorim, a tip off, which was provided by few lower ranking personnel at Old Goa Police Station.
“About 5-6 out of the 7 persons arrested in the shootout were found at a common spot in the Omni at Porvorim. They surrendered to the police whereas the two juveniles were picked from their respective homes. A couple of personnel in the constable rank were in the know about their presence at the spot,” the source said.
In all likelihood, the tip off to the police was from ‘someone’ very close to the accused, who are in the police custody.
Mercelino Dias (35 years), a resident of Bambolim; Ronny D’Souza (23) and Samuel D’Souza (20), both residents of St Inez; David Araujo (26), Minguel Arauzo (19) and Francis Nadal (23), all from St Cruz; and David D’Souza (20) of Camrabhat were arrested hours after the shootout shook the State on Saturday under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Arms Act. Two juveniles have also been apprehended and sent to Apna Ghar.
On Sunday, they were produced before a magistrate and remanded to eight days police custody.
The police released a press statement in the evening informing about the development with few details about the incident. However, how the sequence of events unfolded as well as their efforts in tracing the whereabouts of the accused was missing, even as such case details have been highlighted in their earlier press releases regarding serious offences.
The trend that accused are caught within hours of committing the crime has also been gathering different opinions within the department. “It’s interesting that in a matter of few hours, the gang war accused were caught. Good efficiency of the Police Department or should we suspect something strange into this? We have been noticing this trend in the recent past,” the source said.
Herald, in its Sunday edition, had also reported about certain leads shared by a local to the Old Goa police regarding the possible gang war. No action was taken in this regard and it has now come to the light that one of them, who intimidated Imran Bepari on the Facebook, is one of the accused arrested in the case. The lapse, a senior police officer said, will be looked into.
Meanwhile, Goa Police’s forensic experts are probing whether the bullet found on Sonu Yadav, who was killed in the shootout, was the same found on the walls of Bepari’s house. According to police, till Saturday, six rounds of fire were shot, but it is now also being probed if Bepari had also fired a gunshot.
