PANAJI
The Panaji police on Monday filed a chargesheet against history-sheeters Zenito Cardozo and seven others for attempted murder and related offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, in connection with the assault on activist Rama Kankonkar.
The 1,371-page chargesheet was filed before the District and Sessions Court, with SP North Rahul Gupta stating that it has been filed within the mandatory 60-day period and it names eight arrested accused, all of whom are still in judicial custody.
Police have cited 49 witnesses and attached 32 muddemal articles as evidence. An application has also been made before the court seeking permission to continue further investigation.
The chargesheet has been booked under Sections 126(1), 109, 351(3), 238, 111 r/w 3(5) and 61 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) along with Sections 3(1)(a), 3(1)(r), 3(1)(s) and 3(2)(v) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
The incident occurred on September 18 when Kankonkar was reportedly assaulted by a gang outside a restaurant at Caranzalem. During the confrontation, he was also subjected to caste-based insults.
The case triggered protests and pressure from local community leaders, following which police added relevant sections of the SC/ST Act besides charges of attempted murder, wrongful restraint and others.
Kankonkar was discharged from the GMC 23 days after the attack. He accused the police of compromising the investigation and claimed that his repeated concerns over the possible involvement of politicians were ignored by the police during the recording of his statement. He also clarified that he had no personal enmity with the eight accused arrested so far, claiming he neither met nor spoke to any of them.
He demanded an investigation by an external agency whereas the police stated that Kankonkar had identified only one person, Minguel, as one of the attackers in his statement. He, however, stated that he would be able to recognise them if a test identification parade is conducted.
