Original motive in the Walke murder case was robbery: DGP

Team Herald

MARGAO: Director-General of Police Mukesh Kumar Meena while clearing clouds over the Swapnil Walke murder case said the robbery was the motive and that this is very clear. The DGP also rubbished the contradictory theories making rounds. 

The DGP addressed the press after meeting the goldsmiths and Margao market vendors. Right at the onset, the DGP said, “The motive is clear that this was an attempted robbery in a jewellery shop. However, as they got into a scuffle they were unsuccessful.”

“They surveyed the areas, discussed within themselves and selected this jewellery shop as this is away from the main market,” he said.

He also significantly said, “There is a lot of fear psychosis and the people don’t know what is to be done now. This incident is bad and this also reflects on our police performance.”

On links between the Anjuna robbery and the Walke murder case

While clearing the cloud over the angle of the robbed gold from Anjuna the DGP said, “Evander had assured that he would keep the gold of his relative in the bank but had given it to his accomplice and the case is being investigated. However, in our investigation there is no lead thus far, of the gold being disposed of in this shop.”

The DGP also said that they haven’t found any connection between any of the accused and the victim Swapnil Walke. The DGP said, “The accused wasn’t fired at immediately. He resisted them and I commend the man for putting up a fight,” he said. 

On the coincidence of the criminals in the two cases being the same

When asked regarding the too obvious coincidence that the accused in the Anjuna robbery and the Walke murder case is the same the DGP said, “Ask the criminals why they keep committing crimes repeatedly. Mustafa is a murderer in our records.” However, when asked whether they were not keeping a track on a dreaded criminal like Mustafa, DGP said, “I can’t answer anything on that.”

On transferring the case to the Crime Branch

Explaining why the case was transferred to the Crime Branch, Meena explained that as this case had become very important, Margao residents were shattered and worried, due to which they transferred the case to Crime Branch. “It was an urgency to transfer the case to the Crime Branch to conduct evidence collection and proper investigation. Nobody can question us on the transfer of the case. The local police can’t dedicate special time to the investigation as they are busy in other duties,” Meena said. 

On the role of Edson Gonsalves

Edson Gonsalves was not arrested but detained because his role has not come to the fore in the investigation. “We have arrested the ones who are directly or indirectly involved,” said the DGP.

On the murder weapon, the gun, being brought from Bihar

“The fact that the gun was brought from Bihar has been proven, in the investigation,” said the DGP. When asked how it reached Goa in the lockdown the DGP chose not to answer the same, but hinted that they know the details of their travel.