the goan I network
PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa upheld the convictions of Rohan Dhungat, Nafiyaz Sheikh, Shankar Tiwari and Jovita Ryan dos Remedios Pinto and the sentences of life imprisonment handed out by the Children’s Court for the kidnap and murder of Mandar Surlakar back in 2006.
“Though we are convinced that the convicts have committed a heinous crime and that too in a dastardly manner against a helpless, unsuspecting and an extremely well meaning victim, nevertheless, we are not convinced that any direction to preempt the executive from even taking up the case of the convicts for remission is called for,” the court ruled.
“We do not have before us much material to evaluate several of the relevant considerations, such as the conduct of the convicts in prison, their proclivity at reform, etc. We feel that the matter can be best left to the appropriate authority to decide,” the court said.
Lawyer for the accused sought to assail the Children’s Court’s order, by which Al Saleha Beig, original accused, was granted pardon. They pointed out that he was accorded special treatment, which is evident from the fact that the then Chief Minister actually visited whilst he was in police custody and that he had already confessed to his role in the alleged crime and, therefore, his confession could have been considered not only against himself, but also against other accused persons. “If this order is set aside, then his testimonies are liable to be struck off the record and if it is struck off record, then, there is absolutely no evidence to link any of the accused persons with the alleged crime,” the appellants argued.
He also sought to pick holes in the other arguments made by the prosecution on various counts including the absence of conspiracy to murder and only a conspiracy to kidnap, before the Children’s Court.
However, the court was not convinced. “In the present case, the prosecution has proved the guilt of the accused persons, beyond reasonable doubt and, therefore, this is not a case which falls in the realm of mere suspicion,” the High Court bench of Justices Prithviraj Chavan and Mahesh Sonak said.
We are also satisfied that this is not a case which calls for the application of doctrine of reasonable doubt based on the so called discrepancies or contradictions pointed out,” they added.
The State had also filed an appeal against a part of the order of the Children’s Court which after sentencing the accused persons to life imprisonment, held that they are entitled for set off for the period already undergone during trial.
However the High Court chose not to interfere in the Children’s Court order saying by clarifying that the benefit of such set off can be availed “only in the event the appropriate authority makes orders for remission or commutation and not otherwise.”
To a separate appeal filed by the father of Mandar Surlakar seeking for enhancement of the sentence to death penalty or in the alternative to the sentence that the accused persons undergo life imprisonment for the remainder of their natural lives, without seeking the benefit of any remission, the court said it was best for the appropriate authority to decide.
While the advocate for the victim’s father said that he was no longer pressing for a death penalty, he argued that looking to the heinousness of the crime committed by the accused persons, and the circumstance that the accused persons were professional or hardened criminals and that it is a fit case to issue directions that they undergo life imprisonment
for the remainder of their natural lives, without any remission.
According to the prosecution, the four accused persons and one Al Saleha Beig, who was originally an accused but later turned approver, were friends.
Rohan, Nafiyaz and Ryan, all students of Law College, in partnership undertook the business of publication of magazine “Vox Populi” from the office premises at Miramar, Panaji, Goa. As the business ran into losses, all the accused persons, initially hatched a conspiracy to kidnap one Xavier from Mapusa for ransom. However, after they realized that there was some dispute between the parents of Xavier, on account of which the Court had ordered the Bank accounts of Xavier’s father to be frozen, they abandoned this plan.
Thereafter, in the first week of August, 2006 Rohan proposed a plan to kidnap the victim Mandar from Vasco as he “had rich parents, and therefore, could be kidnapped for ransom.”
Accordingly, conspiracy was hatched to kidnap the victim and the accused persons including Al Saleha Beig, made attempt to kidnap the victim, by posing to call from Sea Square Entertainment, an Event Management Firm from Bombay, and told the victim that they wanted him as a Disc Jockey (DJ) to organize a show in Goa.
Rohan, Nafiyaz and Shankar, brought the victim to Ryan’s house at Ucassaim, where, Ryan and Al Saleha Beig were already present. Here, the accused persons assaulted and tied down victim with ropes and forced him to record a message for his father to pay ransom, without reporting the matter to the police.
At about 1.15 pm, on the same day ie on 14.08.2006, a demand was made to victim’s father for ransom of Rs 50 lakhs, but the victim’s father, rushed to the Vasco Police.
On the next day the dead body of the victim was discovered at Alra Keri, near Ponda found to be killed by strangulation and assault with baseball bats on his head.
The post-mortem reports confirmed homicidal death. In the course of investigations, Al Saleha Beig turned approver and disclosed details of the conspiracy and its execution, which, ultimately, led to the abduction of Victim for ransom and ultimately his murder, because Victim’s father approached the Vasco Police, instead of complying with the demand for ransom.
