PANAJI
The Crime Branch is likely to file a closure report in the Siddhi Naik case as it has not been able to establish any conclusive evidence that it was a case of murder.
A top official informed that after thorough investigation into the matter and after recording the statements of many witnesses, it has been concluded that it was not a murder.
“The Crime Branch is in the process of filing a closure report which will be then submitted to the court,” the official informed.
Police initially registered a case of unnatural death after the autopsy report indicated she died of drowning and there was no evidence of sexual assault or attack. The death was registered as a murder case more than four months later against the backdrop of pressure from her family and Opposition parties.
The deceased’s father, Sandeep Naik in his complaint had stated that he suspected that his daughter was drowned in shallow water and then brought and kept at the spot and further suspected that some unknown person/persons was/were involved in the murder of his daughter.
The case was handed over to the crime branch following an uproar over the circumstances around the death of the 19-year-old in the run-up to the State elections held in February this year.
Naik, a salesperson at a shop in the city, went missing after her father dropped her at the bus stop from where she was to take the bus to work. She was found dead the following day on Calangute beach.
