TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Zaine Almeida, accused of stabbing two locals outside a city pub last month, will be in prison for more days or probably weeks as the Additional Sessions Court denied him bail in an order pronounced on Saturday.
The Court presided over by Judge Vijaya Pol agreed to arguments submitted by the State prosecutor that this was a brutal sword attack on Raju Sarin and Rafael Da Costa and there were also attempts to intimidate the witnesses.
The 23-year-old has been charged with attempt to murder under Section 307 and destruction of evidence under Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code. In his defense, the accused tried convincing the court it was an act of “self defense” and that he had surrendered before the public prosecutor hours after the incident on April 21. He also claimed he does not have any criminal record.
His submission was strongly opposed by the Panjim police who contended that his action does not confirm the attack on the two victims was in self-defense. The court was also told that witnesses are being intimidated by the accused
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while the victims are going through tremendous mental trauma.
“The witnesses have claimed they are intimated by those known to the accused. Recording of statements of the witnesses connected with the investigation is still not complete,” the police submitted terming the attack as ‘brutal.’ “The victims are so traumatized that they can’t even speak properly.”
The prosecution also questioned that if the accused surrendered, why did he fail to deposit the weapon of attack with the police instead of throwing it in River Mandovi.
The case is currently being investigated by Panjim police inspector Rajendra Prabhudesai and supervised by Crime Branch’s superintendent of police Kartik Kashyap.
There were serious allegations that the then investigating officer – sub-inspector Baban Powar likely to be susceptible to pressure and sections of police trying to pressurize and intimidate witnesses as well as people involved with the victims.
While the investigation is on war footing, the sword is not yet located. The Indian Navy was approached to assist the team to locate the weapon but there has been no response for nearly two weeks now.
