In the past, taxi drivers, particularly those with inter-state permits, have been a target for robbers and murderers. More often than not, the perpetrators are customers hiring these cabbies. The recent brutal murder of a Bengaluru cabbie, whose decomposed body was found at Morjim highlights this plight. As of date, the police have nabbed the culprits.
Plying taxis on inter-state highways is proving to be a death trap for unsuspecting taxi drivers, who are often robbed and brutally murdered.
In another tragic case this year, according to The Goan, police found a decomposed body of a male on May 23, in Morjim. The Pernem Police then registered a case of unnatural death and sent the body to GMC Bambolim for autopsy.
The Murder Story
According to the police, this source informs, five persons from Kerala who hired taxi driver Uday Kumar from Bengaluru murdered him and stole his cab. His body was found dumped in Morjim.
Acting on a complaint from Uday Kumar’s family, who filed a missing complaint at Rajan Kunte Police station at Bengaluru, after they were unable to contact him of his mobile, the Bengaluru cops were able to trace his cellphone’s last known location. Upon investigation, it was revealed that Rahul P from Kerala had hired Uday’s taxi to travel to Goa. He has been arrested in this connection.
According to the Goan, the accused told police that five of them, from Kerala, had hired Uday Kumar’s Innova to take them to Goa. They had then checked into a guest house in Anjuna. On the same day, the suspects strangled Uday, stole his car, dumped his body at Morjim and fled to Mumbai. They abandoned the vehicle in Mumbai and returned to Kerala.
According to sources, the suspect along with a relative of the deceased was brought to Goa by the Bengaluru police to verify the facts and identify the body, informed DSP Gajanan Prabhudessai. The Goa Police have now registered a murder case.
Other Similar Cases
It may be recalled earlier in March this year, according to a report in Prudent Media, Sirsaim-Mapusa based taxi driver Jivan Chari was found murdered by unknown persons in Khanapur Karnataka and his face burnt to hide his identity. His taxi had been hired by some persons from Belgaum.
According to a Times of India report, In 2015, yet another taxi driver 75-year old Dharma Krishna Patekar was brutally stabbed to death by his passenger in Chicalim due to some previous enmity between the two.
In 2013, after the decomposed body of driver Prashant Naik, a native of Karwar was found in Haveri, Karnataka and the suspects apprehended and in view of a similar incident that took place eight years ago in South Goa, the Goa police had issued advisory to all tourist taxi drivers that knowing their passengers’ record was a must.
Source: The Goan | Prudent Media | Heraldo | Time of India
