Bicholim police nab accused after 16-hour hunt
BICHOLIM
Two persons were arrested on Friday on charges of attacking a crew on a ferry at the Surla ferry wharf.
According to police reports, the incident had taken place at about 8.50 pm on October 2 when the Ferry Boat ‘Chandor’ plying along the Volvoi-Surla ferry route had docked at the Surla ferry wharf to deboard passengers.
At that time, a person riding a scooter allegedly abusing the crew of the ferry boat and one of them, Ramakant Phadte (58) of Volvoi-Ponda, asked the person as to why he was abusing them.
The accused removed a koita from his scooter and allegedly assaulted Phadte on his head, causing him grievous injuries.
When the other crew of the ferry boat went to rescue Phadte, the accused allegedly threatened them by brandishing the koita and then fled away from the site with an unknown pillion rider.
The injured crew member was immediately shifted to GMC hospital at Bambolim, where he is undergoing treatment.
Acting on the basis of leads and inputs from sources, Bicholim police identified the accused as Rupesh Naik (40) of Dhakul Maina, Sanquelim. However, the accused was not found at his residence and was absconding after the offence to evade his arrest.
During investigations, Bicholim police found out that the accused person had proceeded towards the Podocem direction and had been hiding in a dense forest area.
Accordingly, a police team was formed under the supervision of Bicholim PI Vijay Rane, and the team searched the entire forest area on Thursday night and Friday.
After a search operation which lasted for over 16 hours, the accused was finally caught.
The second accused, Aniket Navelkar (28) of Fanaswadi-Navelim, who was the pillion rider along with the main accused, was also arrested in this connection. Naik was arrested on charges of attempt to murder, while Navelkar was arrested on charges of abetting the crime. Both were remanded to six days in custody.
While the vehicle used in the commission of crime has been traced, the weapon used in the commission of crime is yet to be recovered.
