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PERNEM
When the Pernem police nabbed Ramchandra Chandralappa (30) of TN and his accomplice in connection with two separate crimes in Morjim, they soon realised that the accused was also linked to the rape case in Canacona.
According to Pernem police, there was an attempted theft at a hotel in Morjim on December 6 and some hotel staff and locals managed to nab Ramchandra Chandralappa (30) of TN and handed him over to police. He, however, managed to escape from the police van and three cops were later suspended in this connection. Later on December 18, valuables worth Rs 32 lakh were burgled from a newly married couple from Mumbai, at a resort in Morjim.
Pernem PI Sandesh Chodankar then suspected a link in the two incidents, which were located within 200 metres of each other, and had formed a police team to trace Ramchandra. The police team managed to locate the accused in Cortalim on the basis of his mobile phone usage, but he had moved elsewhere by the time a police team reached Cortalim. The police then found his location somewhere in Margao on Wednesday and went to a hotel, where they nabbed his accomplice, Prakash A N (35) of Andhra Pradesh late at night.
Ramchandra had apparently handed over his mobile phone to Prakash and had left for Canacona, but Prakash was unaware of his whereabouts. Pernem police were then waiting to nab Ramchandra on his return to the hotel. When Ramchandra returned to the Margao hotel on a two-wheeler early Thursday morning, police nabbed him and began investigations into the two incidents at Morjim.
The Pernem police then stumbled upon the bag containing the belongings of the British woman who was allegedly raped at Palolem. In the meanwhile, the Pernem police took both accused to Pernem as part of investigations and also contacted police official and the Canacona police regarding the Ramchandra’s connection to the rape case in Canacona. Police later recovered foreign and local currency from the possession of Ramchandra.
Later on Thursday night, Ramchandra was handed over to the Canacona police in connection with the rape case.
CCTV cams help cops detect British woman rape case
MARGAO: Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) surveillance cameras installed at establishments along the Canaonca railway station to Palolem beach helped the Goa police to detect the British woman rape case, even the Pernem police was lying in wait in the commercial capital since last night to nab the rape accused and his accomplice at a city hotel in a series of house breaking thefts.
District Police Chief, South, SP Arvind Gawas said that the Pernem police led by PI Sandesh was in Margao following information that the rape accused Ramchandra along with his accomplice, who were wanted in house breaking thefts at Pernem, were putting up in a hotel at Margao. “When the Pernem police descended in the city, they could find only Ramchandra’s accomplice, a native of Andhra Pradesh in the city hotel. The accomplice told the police that Ramchandra has gone alone to Palolem-Canacona to commit robberies and will be returning back to the hotel only on Thursday morning”, he said.
The district police chief said the police got the clues on the involvement of Ramchandran on the rape cum robbery case based on CCTV surveillance camera. “After the British woman lodged her complaint, we decided to scan the CCTV footage of the cameras along the railway station-Palolem route, where we managed to get vital clues about the involvement of accused Ramchandra in the rape cum robbery case,” he said.
To a question, SP Gawas said though accused Ramchandra had headed to Canacona to commit thefts, he raped the British woman after finding her alone, while she was returning back from the Canacona railway station, from where she wanted to head to Thivim.
