PANAJI
The Calangute and North Goa district police hierarchy will get the crutches of expertise drawn from the Crime Branch to assist the ongoing investigation into the mysterious death of the 19-year-old Nachinola girl whose body was found dead on the beach almost a day after her father reported her missing last week.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who also holds the home portfolio, said the investigations are being carried out properly after the girl's family publicly voiced dissatisfaction over the probe.
"The Crime Branch will assist in the investigation," Sawant told journalists on the sidelines of an official function on Monday. He also said that the probe is still open and all angles of the case are being thoroughly investigated.
North Goa Superintendent of Police (SP) Shobit Saxena, IPS, also holds charge of the Crime Branch and has roped in some of the best men from the specialised investigation branch based in Ribandar to assist in the backhand investigative work.
A police official involved in the probe also said the investigation is still constructing the chain of events of the day when the girl went missing from Mapusa and the hours leading to the point her body was discovered on the Calangute beach.
Statements of some eyewitnesses who saw her have been recorded. The police have also interviewed some people who were at the Calangute beach in the hours preceding to when the body was discovered, including some lifeguards.
The girl's father had reported her missing on August 12 hours after he had dropped her off at Mapusa and on learning she had not reached work. The next day, her body was discovered on Calangute beach.
After preliminary investigations and on receiving the autopsy examination report, the police had ruled out sexual assault and murder. Three doctors at the Goa Medical College had conducted the autopsy examination and police claimed that 'drowning' was stated to be the cause of death.
This led to an uproar in the State from civil society and the political Opposition who have accused the administration of scuttling the probe to bury the controversy and bad press.
The girl's family too has now joined in the chorus with her father accusing the Goa Police of shoddy work. He has also made a serious allegation that the police had initially tried dissuaded him from filing the "missing complaint".
