SP Prabhudesai, who was at the Vasco police station on Thursday evening to take stock of police investigations into the deaths of Priyanka and Nandan Pandey of Bageshwar-Uttarakand, declined to confirm if both had committed suicide or if one had murdered the other, before committing suicide.
“It is too early to decide whether it was a murder-cum-suicide or if both had committed suicide, as police are still investigating the case,” SP Prabhudesai told Herald.
He, however, confirmed that the parents of Priyanka, who are residents of Vidhyanagar-Margao, had filed a missing complaint at the Margao police station on Wednesday evening, regarding the disappearance of Priyanka.
“The police then swung into action and began tracking the mobile calls made or received by Priyanka on her mobile phone. The police managed to trace calls by Priyanka, which were transmitted by mobile towers in Vasco. A Margao police team along with some family members of Priyanka then rushed to Vasco. With the assistance of the Vasco police, the police teams searched many hotels in Vasco, but could not locate Priyanka,” said SP Prabhudesai.
“Though the police also traced a call location near the KTC bus stand in Vasco, they could not identify the exact spot from where the call was made,” he added.
The search for the missing woman ended on Thursday morning, following the twin deaths in a hotel at Vasco.
“Vasco police found the body of Priyanka in the hotel room and on going through her photo identity card, realised that it was the same person missing from Margao. They then alerted the Margao police,” said SP Prabhudesai.
“The Margao police then conveyed the news to family members and they rushed to the hotel at Vasco and identified the body,” he added.
Asked if Priyanka was in love with Nandan and was unhappy to marry the person arranged by her parents, SP Prabhudesai replied: “The police are yet to record the statements of the family members of Priyanka.”
