Young Swedish national 22-year-old Felix Dahl was found dead in Canacona in January 2015. Reopening the case in 2018 at the behest of the victim’s mother and the Bombay High Court (Goa) order, the CBI had requested the Central Forensic Science Laboratory to reconstruction the crime scene. The much-await results will finally ascertain the actual cause of death.
Even four years after a young Swedish national, 22year- old Felix Dahl was found dead in Canacona on January 28, 2015 efforts are still on by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) to investigate how Dahl died. To determine exactly how they have now reconstructed the scene.
According to the Times of India, the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) Delhi had recently reconstructed the crime scene at the spot where he died. The much-awaited report by the CFSL will determine whether the cause of death was due to homicide, murder or accident.
According to a source, preliminary investigations by CBI indicated that Dahl was assaulted leading to his death. However, to reconfirm their investigation, the CBI requested the CSFL to reconstruct the scene. “We will be sure about the cause of death once we get the CSFL’s report,” a CBI source informed.
The Goa Police post mortem report had indicated that Dahl died due to injuries sustained from an accidental fall.
On June 24, the CFSL commenced reconstruction at around 930am using a dummy. To study the impact of the fall, the dummy was dropped in the same manner at the crime scene, as described by the Goa Police. This reconstruction concluded at 2 pm.
The 7-member CFSL team comprised of the laboratory director, heads of department of physics, biology and psychology, a videographer and a photographer.
The CBI team comprised of investigating officer and SP Ashok Kumar, PI Shakaram Parab, police sub-inspector and constables. Police Inspector, Gurudas Kadam, who initially investigated the case, was also present.
According to this source, it may be recalled that Felix Dahl had come to Goa in October 2014 and was last seen at a restaurant in Patnem, before his body was discovered by a local at 5.30am, just 200m from the restaurant in an isolated spot.
In July of 2018, after Goa police had filed a closure report due to lack of evidence to prove murder, Dahl’s mother, Minna Pirhonen had filed a petition seeking the transfer of the case to CBI, doubting the probe conducted by the local police. The High Court of Bombay at Goa had then transferred the case to the CBI in the ‘interest of justice’, while reprimanding the Goa Police for its failure to examine the case in a fair and impartial manner.
According to Goa Prism, (Felix Dahl’s murder case: JMFC now directs Police to register Dahl’s death as murder 2016), after more than a year and a half, the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Canacona, had directed the Goa police to register Swedish national Felix Dahl’s death as a murder. According to a source, JMFC Sarika N Fal Desai directed the Canacona police station to register, within a month of the order, the first information report (FIR) in the Dahl case under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
Dahl’s mother, through her representing attorney, had told the court that Dahl was murdered and that the authorities were reluctant to take cognizance of the murder. She also said that the investigating authority, which stated that Dahl’s death was caused due to accidental fall, was perverse and based on imaginary findings. She had further pointed out that Dahl’s wounds and circumstances around his death did not point to an accident.
In August 2018, on the directions of the court, CBI registered an FIR against unknown persons.
Will Felix Dahl and his family be served justice? The much-awaited CFSL report will perhaps bring them some measure of relief and justice.
Source: TOI
