PANJIM, JAN 31
Suspended Police Inspector (PI) Sandesh Chodankar on Monday said that Moira resident Cipriano Fernandes did not suffer head injuries.
Chodankar appeared before the judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) Panjim that is hearing his petition seeking to cross-examine Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) forensic doctors who conducted the autopsy on Cipriano Fernandes’ body.
“The CT scan report does not show any head injuries on Cipriano. The deceased had undergone a CT scan and neurosurgery examination on January 8 that did not reveal head injuries,” Chodankar said adding that he has sought Cipriano’s medical information under the Right to Information Act.
The suspended PI also stated that Cipriano’s clinical and final causes of death are contradictory.
He said that CT scan shows ‘celebro vascular accident’ as the cause of death whereas GMCH forensic doctors concluded Cipriano’s final cause of death as ‘death due to head injuries.’
Chodankar argued that if Cipriano suffered head injuries then it would be after his admission in the GMCH where the deceased underwent treatment for 18 hours.
Cipriano, a 38-year-old seafarer, was on his two-month long vacation at his home town in Goa when he was picked up by Panjim police on January 7 evening.
He was arrested under ‘preventive measure’ after his woman friend complained against him of threatening her at her Caranzalem house.
The non- resident Goan who was employed as second cook in an European cruise ship succumbed on January 9 morning at GMCH with family members holding Panjim police responsible for his killing.
Meanwhile, Chodankar’s wife suffered a mild heart attack after two unknown persons trespassed into his ancestral house at Neugi Nagar on Sunday. She was immediately admitted to a private clinic after which she was discharged.
Chodankar asked for police protection as the two unknown person who entered the house on the pretext of repairing an electricity meter started searching for him.
He suspects Kenneth Silveira of Vasco and Jowett D’Souza of Colva for hatching a criminal conspiracy either to harm him and his family or to plant evidence against him relating Cipriano’s death.
Police are investigating the case under sections 452 (criminal trespass) and 120-B (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
Incidentally, Kenneth is a crucial witness who claimed to have seen Cipriano being beaten in the police station whereas Jowett had filed a complaint with the Panjim police to register a first information report (FIR) in the custodial death.
Three policemen including Chodankar, Police Sub-Inspector Rajesh Ramnathkar and Head Constable Sandip Shirvaikar have been suspended for procedural lapses.
