MAPUSA
The Additional District and Sessions Court at Mapusa has sentenced two persons to life imprisonment for the murder of a restaurant owner Vishwajeet Singh at Candolim in 2018.
The murder had taken place shortly after Singh had lodged a complaint against one of his employees Umesh Lamani of Candolim on August 7, 2018, accusing him of stealing his Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle and not returning it.
Upset over the complaint, Lamani along with another accused, Daya Shankar Sahu of Madhya Pradesh had stabbed Singh to death in the parking area of Singh’s apartment at Candolim.
Both accused persons were later arrested from Karnataka by then Calangute Police Inspector Jivba Dalvi and the case was investigated, which included recovery of weapons of assault, identification of witnesses and evidences and seizure of valuable CCTV footages. A chargesheet was filed in the same year itself.
The bail applications of the accused persons were rejected many times during the trial. The court examined 42 witnesses and digital evidence.
After six years of trial and examination of all witnesses, CCTV and scientific evidences the Additional Sessions and District Judge Sharmila Patil announced life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 on both accused persons for committing murder and 3 years imprisonment for offences under the Arms Act.
The investigation team consisted of DySP Jivba Dalvi (then Police Inspector of Calangute Police Station), PSI Sitaram Malik, PSI Mahesh Naik, ASI Subhash Malvankar and other staff. The prosecution of the case was conducted by PP Anuradha Talaulikar, PP Jennifer Santamaria and PP Roy D’Souza.
