PANJIM: If the statements of the victim girl and her eventual story are proven, Taleigao’s political emperor Babush Monseratte, will be the one without any clothes with his reputation and political future torn to shreds.
The minor girl who has accused St Cruz MLA Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate of raping her was lodged at Apna Ghar on April 11, 2016. This is as per records with Apna Ghar and confirmed by Crime Branch SP Karthik Kashyap.
Police sources said the rape happened somewhere prior to that date and the girl, in her statement to the Child Welfare Committee, has not mentioned the exact date it happened.
According to police, after the girl was raped at Monserrate’s farmhouse, she left the place and went to stay at a friend’s house instead of going home, as it was her mother who had initially dropped her to Monserrate’s farmhouse.
However, the mother on noticing her daughter with her friends forced the girl to return home and later tried to force her to go to Monserrate again. But the girl was not ready to return home and the mother called the police to complain that the girl was not coming home and was loitering with friends.
The Panjim police picked her up in a PCR van and took her to the Police Station. The girl and the mother were called and the police tried to settle the issue but the girl was not ready to go home and as she was a minor, she was sent to Apna Ghar, Merces. This was on April 11 and she has been staying at Apna Ghar since then.
At that time the girl did not reveal she had been raped. It was during the course of counseling at Apna Ghar by experts that the girl spoke about the incident and said it was the reason she didn’t want to return home.
Sources said that after this the girl was taken before the Child Welfare Committee and her statement was recorded before them and Panjim Police informed. Based on the girl’s statement Panjim Police registered a FIR against Monserrate and two others and transferred the case to the women’s police station.
The girl in her statement also said she suspects that some drug was mixed in her drink before she was raped at the farmhouse.
She added that she was not aware of anything that happened later but in the morning she noticed Monserrate in the bed sleeping shirtless and she was naked with blood all around.
According to Kashyap the girl was working in Monserrate’s showroom for 3 to 4 months whereas the MLA claims she worked there only for 10 days and was sacked for misappropriation of finances.
