TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Contract workers and officials of the Public Works Department were shocked to discover a skeleton in the hollow space within the first span, on the Panjim side of the Mandovi bridge.
Though the skeletal structure was sighted a week earlier, the workers were not sure it was a human skeleton. Hence the matter was reported to the police only on late Tuesday evening.
PWD executive engineer Ulhas Kerkar who is in charge of roads said they weren’t sure what it was and initially called for a report. ‘Yes it was seen by the workers. But they weren’t sure what it was. We thought it might be a skeleton of a cow or maybe something that only appeared to be like a skeleton. We asked the workers to give a report which we planned to forward to the police,” Kerkar told Herald when asked to confirm whether such a discovery had indeed been made.
“We were to forward their report to the police,” Kerkar said.
Finally the PWD went ahead and informed the police about the find, without waiting for a report to be sent to them from their contractor.
The police have collected the skeleton and sent it to Goa Medical College and Hospital for a post mortem examination after walking over the treacherous span of the bridge which is dark dingy and mucky.
While the cause of death and the identity of the dead person is yet to be identified given that only the skeleton of the body is left, it is presumed that the body has been lying there for at least a couple of years if not more.
PI Manoj Mardolkar of Porvorim said they are awaiting the report from the Goa Medical College and Hospital to ascertain the cause of death before they file a case of murder or unnatural death.
