Over the past weekend, South Goa was hit with a rape case. It was a horrifying story that took place on the well-known Betalbatim beach, involving two locals and three tourists. What started out as a normal evening outing for a local couple, ended in them being threatened, robbed, stripped, the girl being raped and the miscreants getting away. Not for long though. After lodging a complaint with the local authorities, the police were quick to nab the trio. But according to recent reports in the newspapers, the three culprits appear to be career criminals. The police now have the accused in custody.
The accused appear to have a dark past
More information on the case has added extortion to the mix. The accused also tried to bribe the couple for 1 lakh rupees after raping the girl as they had video footage of the act. They are also believed to have forced the girl’s friend to rape her as well which they threatened to release online.
Police arrested Sanjeev Dhananjay Pal, 25, a teacher by profession, from Karmali railway station where he had come to collect the cash. Tthe other two accused, Ram Santosh Bhariya, 24, and Ishwar Makran, 24, were subsequently arrested from Margao bus stand and Margao railway station, respectively. TOI has the whole story of how they were apprehended.
Image credit – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2culXGnu-Fo
The same crime has been committed before
It has now been revealed that this isn’t a first-time offense for the trio. Ishwar Makran who is one of the main accused was charged with rape and murder of a girl in Indore on May 1, 2018.
He is believed to have allegedly done the same thing to a college-going couple in Indore along with two others. There too, that trio waylaid the young couple and gang-raped the girl. However, fearing that the couple would identify them, they threw them into a drain and stoned them to death.
The incident came to light when one of the others involved was caught and interrogated for on some other matter. He is believed to have confessed to the rape and murder. Police recovered the couple’s remains and booked a case against Ishwar and the other two involved.
These two men are also believed to be from the same village as the youngest and third accused, Ram in the Betalbatim cased. Though the police say that he feigned innocence in knowing the two along with their involvement in the Indore case.
DySP Dessai disclosed that a police team from Indore is likely to come to Goa to arrest Ishwar and added that the Goa Police team will leave for Indore to check the background of all three accused.
Meanwhile, Director General of Police Dr. Muktesh Chander on Sunday visited South Goa to enquire into the Betalbatim rape probe.
Also, read – Ruckus at Margao police station over Betalbatim gang rape
Information credit – Herald newspaper
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