Four years ago 24-year-old Czech national Markita Horka was found brutally murdered in a room she shared with her boyfriend Pavel Neuhausi. She was four years younger that Danielle McLaughlin who was raped and murdered last week at an isolated spot in Canacona taluka. The difference here is that DySP Sammy Tavares, who has a reputation for not only cracking murder cases but ensuring a conviction for the accused, is supervising the McLaughlin case. Markita had no such luck. At the time of the murder PI Nilesh Rane was in charge of the Calangute police station and the errors committed by him in the investigation were so many, that the court was forced to set Pavel, the accused, free.
Pavel’s story that two persons forcibly entered his room at the hotel, assaulted him and killed his girlfriend had elements of doubt. He claimed that he was thrown into the get-away car where he fell unconscious and left at the side of the Cansa bridge where he was spotted by a person who called 108. This story was implausible from the start and the cops suspicions were confirmed when footage from the Thivim railway station CCTV showed Pavel walking on the platform. Further, the police claimed that the murder weapon and the key to the room were recovered at the instance of Pavel.
Unfortunately, sloppy investigation by the Calangute police rendered the case useless in court. The first error committed by the police was the time of death. There was a huge discrepancy between the version of the police and the post mortem report. Secondly, the recovery of the knife and key was not conducted properly and the evidence dismissed. Thirdly, the rickshaw driver who took the accused to the Thivim railway station failed to recognise Pavel. Fourthly, the scene of offence panchanama was conducted without care which led the court to conclude that it was conducted in the police station and not the crime scene. Lastly, the police failed to explain how Pavel was found unconscious near the Cansa bridge. The time and date when he was found did not tally with the version given by the witness.
These many errors in one crime is unforgivable. Either the Calangute police are totally incompetent or the case was deliberately tampered with to favour the accused. The result is another murder case remains unsolved. In this case the burden for proving the crime lies not only on the prosecution but also on the inmates (in this case Pavel) who have to give a cogent explanation as to how the crime was committed. Pavel gave his version and the court believed it because the police produced a story that was full of holes.
The outcome of this case calls for a probe into the role of Nilesh Rane in the investigation and a serious re-think on the part of the government in building a unit within the police department which specialises in murder and culpable homicide.
