25 arrests made, but motive in Mungul gang war still a mystery

One of the vehicles attached by the Fatorda police in the Mungul gang war case.

MARGAO
Around 36 days after the gang war erupted on the Margao-Colva road at Mungul in the early hours of August 12, the number of arrests in the case has risen to 25 — and continues to grow, with nearly half a dozen suspects still at large.

A host of questions, however, remain unanswered, particularly the contentious issue of the exact motive behind the brutal attack, which involved weapons such as pistols, swords, iron rods, and even soda bottles.

Registered by the Fatorda police as a case of attempted murder, investigators have so far cited previous enmity between two rival gangs as the primary motive. However, the incident raises several critical concerns — chief among them: how did individuals from various parts of Goa come together to carry out such a coordinated and violent assault on the occupants of a Baleno car in the dead of night?

Adding another dimension to the case was the claim made by the Goa police on the arrest of one accused from Rajasthan. However, they have yet to reveal how this person became involved in the gang, what his criminal background is in his home state, whether he maintained regular contact with the other accused from Goa, and what specific role he played in the assault.

That’s not all. Questions are being raised over the source of the pistols used by the accused in the Mungul case — who accessed the guns and from where they procured the weapons?

With 25 people already arrested and more potentially involved, the question of motive becomes increasingly significant. It also leads to a larger, more contentious concern — was there a larger criminal conspiracy behind this planned attack? If so, who orchestrated it, and who exactly was the intended target?

Questions are also being asked in police circles whether the attack was triggered by previous enmity or whether there is something more than meets the eye. Police insiders admit in private that the attack was not an ordinary attack in the strict sense of the term. “When 25 accused armed with pistols, iron rods, swords, soda bottles came to attack one person, it is very clear that there was some agenda they wanted to execute. The police need to tell the public the motive behind the attack — to make inroads into the Salcete coastal belt or whether there was any drugs angle. The people of Goa are seeking answers to these questions,” remarked a retired police official.