In a recent development to the case involving the death of Swedish national Felix Dahl, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned one man from Rajasthan for over nine hours yesterday.
The man, called for questioning to the state, was reportedly known to Felix and is a jeweler by profession.
The death of 22-year old Felix Dahl had gained widespread headlines across the country, however, over the years, there has been slow progress into the investigation of the case.
Felix, who had arrived in Goa in November 2014, was found dead on January 28, 2015, in Patnem, Canacona.
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The Goa police, who were initially investigating the case, received a rap from the Bombay High Court for its failure to look into the case in a ‘fair and impartial manner’. Felix’s mother had approached the High Court asking for the case to be transferred to the CBI. The same was done by the court in July 2018.
To add context, Felix was last seen at a local restaurant in the Patnem area of Canacona. Later, around 5:30 am the next morning, a local found his body at an isolated location just about 200mts from the restaurant area. A case of unnatural death had been registered.
However, a few months later, Felix’s mother approached the Goa Police through email divulging more information about her son’s mysterious death. A year later, a local court had directed the Canacona police to register an FIR into the case.
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After that, it has been a slow pace. Crucial time was wasted on the sloppy investigation by the police, and after two years, in 2018, Canacona police filed a closure report stating a lack of evidence to prove murder.
The police also reportedly claimed certain injuries on Felix, claiming that he succumbed to injuries due to an accidental fall. However, Felix’s mother termed this side of the story by the Goa police as perverse and based on imaginary findings.
After the case was transferred to the CBI, the agency had found that the day Felix arrived in Goa, another Canadian national had also arrived in the state and had traveled with Felix in the same taxi to Canacona.
Later, the man from Rajasthan had arrived in the state and met two – Felix Dahl and the Canadian national – and they both even visited Rajasthan in November on the request of the jeweler.
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The Canadian even visited Rajasthan again, this time alone, and met the same person the CBI interrogated yesterday. On his return, the foreigner returned with three others, and stayed in Anjuna for a while and then moved to Canacona.
Felix was found dead on January 28th, and according to the CBI, the four, including the Canadian, left Goa the next day, January 29th.
The man from Rajasthan was also taken to Anjuna by the CBI to verify information about the place he was staying, and to ascertain with who all he had a business with.
As per initial investigations, it is learnt that Felix was first assaulted, which then led to his death. The CBI, meanwhile, last year, in order to be more concrete at its findings, asked the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) to reconstruct the crime scene at Patnem.
In January this year, a three-member team from AIIMS had visited Goa, as the CBI had sought a second opinion from a team of AIIMS doctors.
The report from CFSL, however, is still pending now for a year almost, and the CBI, about a month ago, wrote again to the agency reminding it to submit its report. The report from CFSL, according to CBI officials, will indicate whether Felix’s death was due to homicide, murder, or accident.
