MARGAO: The three rape accused from Indore apparently fell in the Goa police dragnet after they demanded a ransom of Rs one lakh from the victim girl and her lover or else threatened to make a video viral. Had the assailants fled the state after committing the heinous act, investigations would have hit a dead end, police in the know admitted.
Police officials informed that the accused stripped the young couple and took their video to blackmail them and extort money. “Initially, they demanded a ransom of Rs one lakh, but since the duo pleaded that they have no money, they brought the amount to Rs 15,000 and then to Rs 10,500”, a police officer said.
After the victim girl and their relatives came to the police station at around 4.30 on Friday morning and narrated their ordeal at the Betalbatim beach. Acting Colva police station in-charge, PI Navlesh Desai informed the unfortunate incident to the superiors, but the police saw a ray of hope in the fact that the accused had demanded a ransom from the victim. “There was no phone call from the accused throughout Friday morning and the first call came around noon when the caller told the boy to come with the ransom at the Karmali railway station. It was at this time, the police constituted a team before descending at the Karmali station. The accused tried to misguide the boy, but landed in the dragnet after a couple of hours. The second accused was arrested at the KTC bus stand late Friday night”, PI Navlesh informed.
The third accused, who had gone missing, was finally traced at the Margao railway station and later arrested after policemen in civil clothes pounced on him along the tracks, sources said.
IGP Jaspal Singh said their “technical” investigations by keeping a tab on the mobile range paid off successfully as the accused were hoping that the victims would pay the ransom to avoid embarrassment on the social media. “The primary motive of the accused was to rob money. That’s the reason why they were calling the victim to pay the money or else threatened to make the video viral”, the IGP said.
