TWIST IN AQUEM ABDUCTION BID CASE: Suspect alleges attempt to portray him as criminal

Suspect Ruben Vernekar’s lawyer Adv Kapil Vernekar briefs the media on the Aquem incident as Ruben looks on.

Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar

MARGAO

Suspect in the Aquem abduction bid case at gun point Ruben Vernekar on Wednesday said the alleged incident that took place at Aquem was an attempt to portray him as a criminal when the complainant Kunal Raikar allegedly owes him money amounting to Rs three crore.

Addressing the media in the presence of his lawyer, Adv Kapil Vernekar, Ruben said the alleged incident at Aquem has come against the backdrop of the failure by the  complainant Kunal Raikar to return back his money amounting to Rs three crore.

His lawyer, Adv Kapil said it has come as a shock and surprise that the complainant has directly named Ruben as a suspect in the case. 

“Ruben has been called for three days by the police after Kunal lodged his complaint in the Aquem incdient. He has been interrogated by the Crime branch as well as by the SP and DySP. The police has scanned his call details, but they have found nothing till date. We want the police to find out whether the incident had really happened or is a manipulated or planted incident”, Kapil said.

He added: “After the incident, the complainant himself had taken the magazine of the gun alleged pointed out to him by the assailants during the abduction attempt to the police even before any panchanama could take place. We had moved the Sessions Court for anticipatory bail, but Ruben’s bail was rejected on technical grounds because there was no apprehension of his arrest”.

Shedding insight into the alleged business deal between Ruben and Kunal, Adv Kapil said the duo had entered into an agreement that Kunal would sell the shop in question in Margao. He alleged that Ruben had handed over an amount of Rs three crore to Kunal, further saying his client have the documents to show the letters and acknowledgment received from the complainant. 

He, however, said that when the issue of executing the sale deed came for the sale of the shop, there was not only a delay in executing the deed, but Kunal allegedly refused to return the money amounting to Rs three crore to his client.

Ruben said he has all the receipts of the payments he had made to Kunal with him, adding that the matter had even reached the Margao police station.