the goan I network
PONDA
Addressing a news conference in Ponda on Monday, DySP Sunita Sawant along with Collem police Inspector Nilesh Dhaigodkar informed reporters that the accused, Ningappa alias Muthu Thalabatta, was arrested from a stone quarry at Kankavali on May 14.
It may be recalled that Collem police had registered an offence under Section 302 of IPC after a decomposed male body had been found near Devchar Kond-Collem on April 28.
DySP Sawant informed that both Thalabatta and the deceased, Sangappa alias Sanmesh Patil, of Bagalkot-Karnataka were friends and were employed on mining trucks. They were temporarily residing in a rented room at Tisk-Sanvordem.
“Patil used to frequent the rented room of Thalabatta and developed a relationship with Thalabatta’s wife in his absence. Thalabatta then hatched a plan to kill Patil and subsequently took him to Collem on pretext of a picnic at Dudhsagar,” said DySP Sawant.
Accordingly, both visited Margao on April 20 for a meal and next day, travelled by the Tirupati Express train from Curchorem to Collem. The murder took place on April 21 and fearing that he would be caught, Thalabatta and his wife left Goa on April 29 in search of a job in Kankavali, from where he was arrested by police.
Thalabatta was produced before the JMFC Sanguem and later remanded to seven days in police custody.
