MAINA-CURTORIM: The Maina-Curtorim police on Thursday arrested one Vasudev Hanumant Madar (59) resident of Khanapur, Karnataka, in mysterious death case of Kanhaiya Kumar Mondal at Loutolim in suspicious circumstances.
However, the Ponda police, who belatedly confirmed that the deceased was in their custody, have failed to provide CCTV footage of that period leading upto the mysterious journey that Vasudev Hanumant Madar was made to undergo in the Ponda police vehicle and dumped on the road in the Maina-Curtorim jurisdiction.
It’s been 15 days since the death had occurred at Loutolim where the labourer, Mondal was dropped by the PCR van of the Ponda Police Station to Loutolim by crossing the jurisdiction of station.
Crucially, the autopsy report clearly indicates the death has happened before the deceased came under the running truck. According to the autopsy, there are multiple stab injuries on the neck, abdomen and slit on the left hand. The autopsy further specifies that the neck stabbing has cut the windpipe and damaged brain nerves on the neck.
The registration of a murder case against the truck driver is also surprising, given this remark of the SP South. Speaking to O Heraldo on Thursday, Sunita Sawant (SP South) informed that the driver Madar has confessed that something had come under the vehicle, but he didn’t stop as it was a night-time. “We have already registered the death as murder, and today we have arrested one Vasudev Hanumant Madar and taken on police remand. Further investigation is in progress under my supervision,” SP Sawant said.
While most cases of this nature, including the recent BMW hit-and-run case where a 52-year-old lady was dragged under the car and killed, are registered as culpable homicide cases not amounting to murder.
It’s baffling how a case of a truck driver speeding on an empty road at night accidently hitting a body lying on the road, is facing murder charges.
Speaking further, Sawant informed that the technical team is in process to recover the CCTV footage of the Ponda Police Station to verify the claims from the autopsy report. This begs the question: Why is it taking 15 days? And sources have confirmed that the Ponda Police has said that the footage isn’t available or corrupted for the exact period when the footage is needed.
According to sources in the Goa Police, the CCTV footage at the Ponda Police Station after June 20 is not available.
SP Sawant, answering to the question of O Heraldo, has informed that even if CCTV of any police station is not working, then it was the duty of the in-charge of the Police Station to put it on record of the station diary as mandatory for the department according to a written circular.
As per preliminary investigation, there is no mention of the said event in the station diary of the Ponda Police Station, raising serious questions on the lapses of the staff. Goa Police has already suspended three policemen in regards with the negligence on the duty.
“There is no such mention on the station diary of the Ponda Police Station that the CCTV was not working,” SP Sawant said.
The Maina-Curtorim Police, the Ponda police as well as the office of the SP South need to provide clear answers to the questions raised in this report and probe the very suspicious and mysterious role of the Ponda Police who have been evading replies. They need to be brought under the ambit of investigation.
