PANAJI
In what appears to be a prima facie case of pre-planned murder, the body of a tourist from New Delhi was found at a city hotel on Monday morning.
Virendra Kumar (60) was found brutally murdered using a sharp weapon in the room which he and four others had checked in on June 19.
The incident came to light after the owner of Sapna Hotel one Suresh Naik Chopdekar, informed the police that a dead body had been found in his hotel room No. 209.
Police rushed to the spot and after conducting a panchanama, registered a case under Section 302 (murder) read with 34 of IPC against four unknown accused, of whom three are males and one is a female.
According to preliminary inquiry, the police found that Kumar along with four others in the age group of 20-30 years checked in at Sapna Hotel at around 6.30 pm on June 19. The offence took place on the intervening night of June 19 and 20.
The four accused fled after murdering Kumar and are presently untraceable.
"It appears that the deceased was murdered using a sharp weapon following which the four others fled the scene. A case was registered at 9.30 am," said a police officer in-charge.
Police have recovered the CCTV footage from the hotel. However, the footage is grainy and the faces of the accused cannot be ascertained.
"We are also finding it difficult to identify the four suspects as the room was booked in the name of the deceased and the owner of the hotel did not take any photo identification of the other persons staying in the room," said the police officer.
Panaji police have written a letter to the North Goa Collector informing of procedural lapses on behalf of the owner in registering the guests.
Police further revealed that Rs 25,000 was withdrawn using Kumar's ATM card from an ATM machine at Vasco.
Meanwhile, the police have contacted the family of the deceased using the numbers provided at the hotel reception. Post mortem will be conducted after the arrival of his family. The body has been preserved at Goa Medical College, Bambolim.
