NT NETWORK
MAPUSA
The Panaji Sessions Court Principal Judge B P Deshpande convicted four accused in murder of Sudan Dabale, a taxi driver.
The taxi driver was kidnapped, and later murdered at Cansaulim.
The court will be pronounce the sentence on Wednesday.
According to the prosecution, on July 17, 2009 at around 7.30 p.m., Mohammad Ali and Bijoy Kolita abducted the taxi driver Sudan Dabale (47), a resident of Uccassim, along with his Maruti van bearing number GA-01 R-7945, from the taxi stand at Mapusa, under the pretext of transporting household goods and articles from Birla to Mapusa. Later, at Birla-Verna junction, Ravindra Jha and Srinivas Gauramkondu joined them and asked the driver to take the taxi to an isolated spot at Cueli-Cansaulim, where Mohammad stabbed the driver with a knife in his chest and abdomen, and thereafter Ravindra and Srinivas caught hold of him and Mohammad cut his throat with a knife and killed him. Further, they committed theft of Maruti van along with documents and other items belonging to the taxi driver. The body was then dumped into bushes at an isolated spot in Cansaulim
Later, the van was used by the four accused to kidnap Vijay Rajan, a resident of Chiclaim-Vasco, whom Srinivas was suspecting of having a relationship with his girlfriend, and when the attempts failed, Srinivas and Mohammad with the help of associates Suraj Jha and Pariket Handuiique kidnapped a friend of Vijay – Aiyaz of Chicalim-Vasco by using the van with fake registration number – GA01-S-8404, the prosecution has mentioned, adding on receipt of a complaint of kidnapping of Aiyaz, then police inspector Sagar Ekoskar along with his staff chased the accused, and finally with the help of Cuncolim police nabbed Srinivas and Mohammad at Cabo da Ram, Canacona.
On interrogation, Srinivas confessed to having murdered the taxi driver Dabale and dumping his body into the bushes at Cansaulim, adds the prosecution.
Mapusa police had arrested another two accused Ravindra Jha and Bijoy Kolita at Vasco, and booked all of them under sections 365, 302, 394, 201 read with Section 120 B of the IPC.
Then Mapusa police inspector (now retired) Manjunath Dessai under the supervision of then Deputy Superintendent of Police Sammy Tavares and with the assistance of PI Ekoskar, PSI Bradon D’Souza, PSI Sandip Kersakar, PC Sushant Chopdekar had conducted the investigation and filed the charge-sheet in the sessions court, and the hearings were held in the case.