Sometimes leaving the history sheeter scot free leads to the serious offenses and something similar seems have happened in the case of Vikat Bhagat. According to the sources, the president of an NGO Goankar had approached the SP (Superintendent of Police) south one year back with the demand seeking an action against the Bhagat but no action had been taken by the police and today the serious case of rape and murder came up.
According to Mr. Fernandes, he has very strong reason to believe that Bhagat was not alone when the rape and murder of Irish national took place in Goa. “We have our reasons to believe that Bhagat was not alone when he murdered the Irish woman,” Mr. Fernandes told the media. He also said that he approached the SP South almost a year back with the complaint of Bhagat but police did not take any action into it. “A year ago we had met SP South demanding action against Bhagat, but nothing happened,” he added.
If you look at the case of rape and murder of Irish woman in Goa the Canacona police showed a high level of efficiency and nabbed the accused Vikat Bhagat (23) from his house within the few hours of the crime came into light but they have not succeeded in tracing the additional culprits involved in this case. According to the sources, the locals and expat community believe the case is not an open and shut one as the police claims, and that there is more than what meets the eye.
The Postmortem of the victim confirmed the rape before her murder by strangulation but the family lawyer of the victim Advocate Vikram Verma raised an issue of involvement of more than one person in this case. According to him, it is impossible that the suspect Bhagat can alone manage to do this and there is an involvement of more than one person. “Danielle was 5’8” tall and she was really strong. This fellow Bhagat, he does not look strong and muscular”, lawyer Vikram Varma told the Mail Online adding that “I doubt he had the strength to overcome Danielle on his own. If she was intoxicated there would have been no need for the terrible injuries she suffered. There has to be more than one person involved. I have no doubt,” he asserted. (source)
The body of the Victim Danielle McLaughlin is already on its way to the UK and it is understood from the sources that in the hometown the family of the victim will be carrying out another autopsy to make their stand stronger in this case and to punish the culprit. Here in Goa, the post mortem reports only mentioned the existence of the rape but whether it is a case of gang rape will be proved only with the exclusive DNA tests and since the testing laboratory is situated in Hyderabad which takes at least one month to get the reports.
Meanwhile, the family lawyer of the victim told the Mail Online that he suspects that the Danielle was raped by the four men inside the Hotel room before being strangulated to death. “Danielle was covered with the paint (colors of Holi) after enjoying the Holi festival in Goa on Monday 13th March but when her body was found by police there was no paint on her body at all,” said Mr. Verma. (source) But according to the Sammy Tavares, DySp (Quepem), the murder took place at the same spot where they found the naked body of the victim lying in the field. “investigation in the case is on and that the location of the crime was the same as where the body was found,” said Mr. Tavares.
The body of Ms. McLaughlin was found in an isolated place in the Devbag around 5km from the Palolem beach where she was seen last with the accused Bhagat and the same was reordered on the CCTV camera Installed at the shack in Palolem. After the police interrogation the accused Bhagat confessed to the crime and during his confession, Bhagat also told about the involvement of more people in this crime with him. “Bhagat had confessed to the crime and he also told the police that besides him three more people were involved in this crime but when police did the investigations they found that Vikat is trying to misguide them as the blood stains found on Vikat Bhagat’s Activa scooter and on his clothes had matched the victim’s blood.” Meanwhile, the police had also rounded up few more suspects in this case but nothing concrete had come out of it. (source)
When the Canacona police arrested the accused Bhagat from his residence at Char Rasta (Cross Roads) in Canacona they found the plastic bag along with the broken pieces of the bottle which were allegedly used by Bhagat to disfigure the victim’s face in order to destroy identity. The forensic expert feels that in such cases clothes are found at the crime site as the accused in his haste to get away either forgets about the victim’s clothes or doesn’t understand its relevance in the investigation. “Since McLaughlin’s clothes were not found near her body, the possibility of the accused having one or more accomplices, even if they did not sexually assault her, can’t be ruled out,” he said. The police will seek an explanation from Bhagat as to how he came to be in possession of a beer bottle at the isolated spot, and how he came to be in possession of a plastic bag to put the victim’s clothes in, said the sources.
