OLD GOA
The Old Goa police cracked the murder case of Vishal Golatkar (35) of Merces who was found murdered at Voilem Bhat-Merces on Sunday.
Addressing reporters, SP Nidhin Valsan informed that the accused included main accused Sai Kundaikar alias Cobra (30), Omkar Chari (19), Gaurish Gawas (25), Tushar Kundaikar (38) and a juvenile, all of Merces who have been taken into custody.
Speaking further, Valsan said that the main accused Sai and Vishal were earlier good friends.
"However, of late there was a strain in the relationship as Sai was often treated badly by Vishal, which ultimately went beyond tolerance," Valsan said while adding Sai along with Chari then hatched a plan to finish Vishal.
The deceased was then called on some pretext by Sai at one spot on Saturday night and along with the other accomplices assaulted the victim with sharp weapons resulting in his death.
"Later all the accused disposed the body and the bike at Voilem Bhat-Merces near a fishnet factory," he informed and said that the spot where the murder took place is around 1.5 kms away from the spot where the body was dumped.
When questioned, Valsan said that it was a planned murder but ruled out any gang war in the murder.
According to police sources, a passerby first noticed that a bike has been dumped in a pit after which he went to have a closer look.
"The passerby then noticed that the body of Golatkar was also lying near the bike after which the police were notified," the sources added while stating that the police arrived at the spot and started investigation.
Later, the police sent the body of Golatkar to the GMC for post-mortem.
The Old Goa police registered a case of murder upon the complaint of Golatkar's sister.
Golatkar was involved in several criminal cases, including the shootout at Santa Cruz in 2020 and also the attack on Maharashtra tourists with swords over a trivial matter in 2017.
In total, Golatkar has eight criminal cases registered against him, six of which are at the Old Goa police station itself.
Valsan further said that apart from Old Goa PI Satish Padwalkar and his team, Panaji PI Nikhil Palekar and his team, crime branch and SDPO Sudesh Naik were instrumental in cracking the murder.
