Tourists robbed at Old Goa,Rs 5.58 lakh booty found
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
OLD GOA, JULY 19
A visit to the famed churches at Old Goa took an unusual turn for two tourists from Hyderabad when gold ornaments, cash and a mobile phone, all worth about Rs 5.58 lakh, were stolen from a taxi hired by them on Monday.
However, Old Goa police acted swiftly and nabbed five persons from Gujarat near the Mollem checkpost, after their vehicle had been identified by the victims at Old Goa.
According to reports, Kamakshi K S Rajshekara and Chandrakala, both from Banjara Hills in Hyderabad, had informed Old Goa police that they were staying at a starred hotel in Canacona and were in the State to attend a wedding on Monday night.
Since they were free on Monday afternoon, they had decided to visit the churches at Old Goa and had hired a taxi for the purpose.
Both women had left their gold ornaments, an ATM card, their air ticket, cash of Rs 20,000 and a mobile phone in the car. The driver had also accompanied them during their visit to the churches.
On their return, the two women and the driver were shocked to find one car window broken and the valuables missing from the taxi.
The women then suspected the involvement of some persons who were in a Gujarat-registered Tavera SUV, which was parked behind their taxi in Old Goa.
They reported this to the Old Goa police and police immediately flashed a wireless message to all police stations in the State to be on the lookout for a red Tavera SUV with a Gujarat registration.
Incidentally, a Tavera vehicle matching the description was sighted at the Mollem checkpost at about 4.30 pm.
Old Goa PI Francis Corte and a police team comprising Head Constable Dhure and Constables Sameer Phadte, Nitin Goankar and Vinay Shrivastava, rushed to the site and confronted the occupants, identified as Pankaj Rupsingh Rathod (28), Bunty Rajesh Shinkrekar (27), Navinchandra Subash Rathod (25), Yatin Babubai Bongire (25) and Praful Pramat (26), all from Ahmedabad Gujarat.
The five persons were taken to the Old Goa police station, where they initially denied their involvement in the crime. They claimed that they had arrived in the State on Sunday and had gone to visit churches in Old Goa on Monday.
They later confessed to the crime and police managed to recover the stolen valuables from the accused.
The accused were later arrested under Sections 379. 34 of IPC and will be produced before the JMFC at Panjim for remand on Tuesday.
