MAPUSA
Three weeks have passed after two assailants unsuccessfully fired at the car in which former member of Anjuna Panchayat, Surendra Govekar, was travelling.
“The investigation in the shoot-out case is at crucial stage. We have got a lead and the inquiry is progressing quite well,” said a police source refusing to share any more details.
Soon after the incident police had arrested a suspect, Gajendra Chottu, the owner of Mehfil Bar, based on Govekar’s complaint.
After spending almost five days in police lockup, Chottu has been released on bail. According to police, Chottu stuck to his statement of not being involved in the incident.
The complainant had also mentioned the name of Deputy Sarpanch of Anjuna Panchayat, Savio Almeida as the other suspect in the case. However, at the time of the shoot-out, the deputy sarpanch was not in the State.
“Savio Almeida had moved out of India just one day prior to the incident. He had left for Dubai along with his family on April 10,” sources in the police said.
The police have now written to the emigration department seeking details on the deputy sarpanch’s foreign travel. Meanwhile, sources divulged that the deputy sarpanch had moved for anticipatory bail which came up for hearing at the Additional Sessions Court, Mapusa on April 27.
The deputy sarpanch who was not present at the bail hearing had sent a medical certificate to the court claiming that he was unwell.
The court has now scheduled the next hearing for the anticipatory bail on May 6.
Police have seized a 9 mm pistol from Chottu and sent it for forensic examination. The police have also been verifying call details of suspected mobile numbers.
Sources in the police disclosed that it had received at least three CCTV footages from the route along which the complainant was travelling on that fateful evening.
The CCTV camera stationed at the roof top of a popular school in the area, where the shoot-out incident took place, has failed to provide any conclusive details, a police source said.
“More importantly, the school’s CCTV camera failed to capture any details between 7 pm to 7.30 pm when the incident happened due to power failure,” the source said.
“We have written to the electricity department asking for power cut details in the jurisdiction of Anjuna between 7 to 7.30 pm,” the source further said.
Anjuna PI, Paresh Naik said investigation was going on in the case and police were verifying facts and call details provided by the complainant.
