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Goa teenager death: Family junks drowning theory; CM asks Crime Branch to assist
The mother of the deceased said, “We want justice. Whoever has done this needs to come out. If she killed herself by drowning, why was the body not bloated? Even her stomach was not filled with water. It only had the breakfast she had taken”
Four days after a 19-year-old girl was found dead at Goa’s Calangute beach, chief minister Pramod Sawant has asked the Crime Branch to assist in the investigation. This comes in the wake of her family alleging foul play. The Goa Police had first said that she died of drowning and ruled out rape or murder when the autopsy found no evidence of sexual assault or injuries.
Sawant said, “The Crime Branch will assist in the investigation.”
The mother of the deceased said, “We want justice. Whoever has done this needs to come out. If she killed herself by drowning, why was the body not bloated? Even her stomach was not filled with water. It only had the breakfast she had taken.”
Her father said, “I dropped her at the bus stop and I saw her board the bus. Then I proceeded my way. I got a call ten minutes later from a cousin who works at the mall (along with her) that she hadn’t reached. I asked her to wait a little more as sometimes the bus is slow, but she never reached.”
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The missing persons report was lodged shortly before 1pm on the day she went missing. Police say they reached out to a bus conductor at Mapusa (that lies in the direction opposite to where the victim was headed) who recognised her and said she was alone at the time.
The family has handed over her mobile phone to the police in the hope that it will offer some clue leading to her death. “I have met the SP and I am convinced that the truth will come out,” the father said after a late evening meeting with top brass of the Goa Police on Sunday.
Shobit Saksena, Superintendent of Police(North Goa) said, “We are conducting a detailed probe in the matter and have preserved viscera for forensic analysis.”
The Opposition has demanded a thorough probe into the death. “I have asked the chief minister for a complete investigation. The case should be handed over to the Crime Branch,” local BJP MLA Glenn Souza Tico said.
The incident evokes memories of the death of British teenager Scarlett Keeling who was found dead on Goa’s Anjuna beach in February 2007. The police initially closed the case as an accidental drowning but after insistence by the girl’s mother, reopened it. An investigation by a different team of the Goa Police found that Keeling was drugged and sexually assaulted, leading to her death.
