the goan I network
MARGAO
A miscreant came crashing down into the sacristy of Our Lady of Piety Chapel at Monte Hill on late Wednesday night, but managed to make good his escape after a scuffle with the Chaplain FrSimao Diniz.
This is perhaps the fifth time in over a month now that miscreants were involved in theft or playing mischief at the Monte Hill, with the Fatorda Police unable to track down on the accused despite complaints lodged by Fr Diniz at the police station.
Wednesday’s night incident occurred at around 8.30 pm when Fr Diniz along with his friend came to the Chapel when they heard a loud sound. Fr Diniz, who is also the Principal of Rosary College, Navelim, initially thought that something must have fallen in the sitting room and as he was about to find out, his friend came towards him to figure out about the loud noise. As the duo moved into the sacristy to find out whether something had fallen there, Fr Diniz saw parts of false ceiling on the floor and a nylon rope with knots hanging from the roof. As he flashed his torch, he saw a young, well built man, sporting a moustache hiding at the corner and before he could be overpowered, the unknown person hurled a chair at Fr Diniz and made good his escape through the window.
“I came to the Chapel at around 5.45 pm from the University since the people were scheduled to come to install the CCTV cameras. After they checked the CCTVs, I along with my friend went to the College and came back at around 8.30 pm with some files. The loud noise, it appears came when the miscreant came crashing down with the false ceiling”, he said.
What’s disturbing to note is that the Monte Hill Chapel had witnessed similar incidents in the recent past, with the miscreants last month decamping with two laptops, a tab, besides four watches,
Indian and foreign currency,
his passport, EPIC card and other documents.
Around 3-4 weeks ago, unknown miscreants had played mischief by putting water into the fuel tank of the car belonging to Fr Diniz. “I started my vehicle to go to the college, but the car stopped barely 20 meters away. When the company people checked the vehicle, they found the tank half full of water”, he said.
That’s not all. A similar incident when his friends had come to see Fr Diniz with BMW and the miscreants again tampered with the vehicle by opening the fuel tank with a screw driver.
Again on 15 August, two persons, who had come to see Fr Diniz on their two-wheelers, found to their shock that items such as raincoats, tool box missing from the dickey.
Fr Diniz recalled that the Chapel was inundated with rain water in June last and inquiries revealed that the roof tiles were kept open. “The labourer who had gone to fix the roof tiles had found a screw driver on the roof’, he added.
DySP, Margao Raju Raut Desai and Fatorda police station in-charge, PI Salim Sheikh descended at the Monte Hill Chapel on Thursday evening to take stock of the situation as the police has so far failed to keep the miscreants at bay.
