MARGAO
It’s now five days since city’s young jeweller Swapnil Walke was gunned down by assailants in broad daylight, and the police arresting three persons in the sensational murder, but a moot question
remains unanswered “ what’s the exact motive behind the gruesome killing that the investigation agencies have so far failed to unearth till date?
This question and many other questions remain unanswered even as the Crime Branch has taken over the investigations in the Swapnil murder case since Saturday. One, was the murder a plain robbery with an eye on the booty inside the jewellery shop or were the assailants hired to execute the murder if one goes by the media statement by a suspect. If the statement made by the suspect is true, then the task before the police is clear -- to unearth the larger conspiracy behind the cold-blooded murder.
Questions remain unanswered and have come to baffle the investigating sleuths as to why the assailant shot at Swapnil point blank as per the CCTV footage without giving him a chance to part with the booty? And, why was the jeweller gunned down by the assailant without threatening and instilling fear in the victim that be will be killed as is the normal modus operandi when the motive is pure robbery and not killing.
That the assailant did not give any opportunity for the jeweller to part away with the booty, but instead pumped in a bullet from close range, police sources suggest that the accused must come with a plan to eliminate the victim. That raises another and more serious question whether the murder or robbery or both was the motive behind the killing.
A senior crime branch official informed that with three accused arrested so far in the case in their custody and interrogations reaching a decisive stage, the investigating agency should hopefully cap the probe and unearth the exact motive behind the murder in a day or two.
“The accused are in the custody of the police. The investigations are going on with the police verifying the statements made by the accused persons. At the most, it may take a day or two for the Crime Branch to unearth the exact motive behind the murder”, an official informed.
