Russian girl's death: Cops give 4 theories

Russian girl's death: Cops give 4 theories

Preetu Nair, TNN

Mystery deepens

While a shack owner filed for anticipatory bail; KRC officials said no driver reported a run over. On Wednesday, the mystery of the Russian girl’s mutilated body found on railway tracks close to Thivim station left a baffled police force looking at four possibilities. Preetu Nair reports

A shack owner has filed for anticipatory bail fearing arrest for the death of Elena Sukhonova, a 19-year-old Russian whose mutilated body was found on railway tracks about 3.5 km north of Thivim station.

Vishant Kundaikar, owner of the O’Pinhal Buckingham Shack on Calangute beach, in his anticipatory bail application before the Sessions Court in Panaji, said, "The police are bent upon arresting the applicant and detaining him in police custody. The applicant has not committed any offence in connection with the case of the death of the Russian lady."

Police sources told TOI that Vishant’s presence "is required for questioning" since, during investigations, they learnt that the shack owner, also called Vinnie, was friendly with Elena.

Vishant however, denied this, "I am not called Vinnie nor was I friendly with the girl. I must have met her once or twice when she came to my shack. She was friendly with Vinay, who is called Vinnie, who was working as a waiter in my shack."

The Russian, who had gone missing on an earlier instance, had deposed before the Calangute police then and said that she was touring with Vinnie and was in love with him.

"Police have registered it as a case of unnatural death. When it is a case of unnatural death, then under section 174 read with section 175 of CrPC, a person can only be called for verifying the condition of the body and not for interrogation, nor can he be detained as contemplated in a crime case," explained Kundaikar’s counsel Ranjit Satardekar.

Meanwhile, Konkan railway officials, who have already ruled out the police theory that Elena must have fallen or been pushed out of a moving train, now claim that a train may not even have run over her on the tracks. This despite the fact that the post-mortem report states that she died "as a result of blunt force impact by an object or surface consequent to being run over by a railway rolling stock".

Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) PRO, Baban Ghatge, told TOI, "If there is a train run over, then the train driver has to report the matter to the next station. Nothing has been reported either by the train driver of Netravati Express or the Mandovi Express that followed it. Even the train driver of Veraval Express (which ran between 7.15am and 7.20am on the spot where the body was found), coming from Gujarat, didn’t report seeing anything on the tracks or of running over."

Tracing the sequence of events, Ghatge recounted that the body was first spotted on the tracks at 7.45am by a railway gangman, who immediately informed the station master. The gangman was then asked to clear the route for the Madgaon-Divar passenger and he therefore moved the body from the tracks. The train subsequently, departed from Thivim station at 8.15am. "Rules are very clear for the drivers. If they see anything or a train hits something on the tracks, they have to report the matter," stressed Ghatge.

With Konkan railway authorities thus ruling out an accident or even a run over, the police now, have had to change tracks. "There may have been a slip. We have now sent a team to Ratnagiri to question the train drivers who were plying on the route on the night of May 8," police sources told TOI.

The men in khaki are also looking at four possibilities of how the Russian’s body may have landed on the tracks:

Possibility 1 — Fall from train

She might have travelled either on the Mangala Express which left Thivim station at 5.02am or the Netravati Express which left at 7.09am and "somehow fallen from the train while she was travelling" to Mumbai, said police sources.

Police view:
Investigations have revealed that Elena was dropped at Thivim railway station by a yellow taxi at about 3am on May 8. In his statement to the police, the driver has said that she told him that she wanted to go to Mumbai. This is substantiated by other taxi drivers outside a night club in Baga where she was till 3am. Moreover, another taxi driver, Venkatesh, also told police that she had called him on his cellphone, from the night club, between 11.30pm and midnight and had asked for a taxi as she wanted to board a train. Venkatesh told police that he refused to oblige as he was asleep.

Gaps:
Konkan railway authorities say that people falling from a train will not come directly under the wheels because of the steps below the door. Moreover, if a person were hanging from the handles near the door, given that the train moves in a forward direction, the person’s legs would come under the wheels and be severed. The head and hands would not get cut, explained Ghatge.

KRC officials also insist that Elena didn’t have railway tickets. Moreover, she had not told her group of Russian friends or those whose statements the police have recorded, apart from the taxi drivers, that she was going to Mumbai. Her passport and luggage were still at the guest-house in Baga. And no one saw her at Thivim railway station.

Possibility 2 — Left to die

She is put on the tracks in an unconscious state by someone. This possibility crops up from the fact that there is a narrow dirt road that leads close to the railway tracks, a few meters from where Elena’s body was found.

Police view:
Investigations are on.

Gaps:
Four trains passed between Thivim and Pernem stations between 3am to 7.45am on May 8. While a goods train passed at 3.35am, Mangla Express left Thivim station at 5.02am, Netravati Express left the station at 7.09am as did Veraval Express at 7.35am. None of the drivers spotted the body nor did anyone report a run over.

Possibility 3 — Drunk and fallen

She is drunk and in an unstable condition. She walks down the tracks from Thivim railway station, collapses on the tracks and is run over by a train.

Police view:
Investigations on, but probability low.

Gaps:
None of the train drivers reported a run over. Besides, with no space to walk, Elena would have had to walk on the tracks, which would have been very difficult to do in the dark.

Possibility 4 — Mutilated elsewhere, dumped on the tracks

Someone placed her mutilated body on the tracks between 7.20am (after Hapa Express left) and 7.45am (when the body was first spotted).

Police view:
This possibility is ruled out as the post-mortem report is clear that Elena’s death was "due to crushing cranio-cerebral damage, with chest abdominal and pelvic injuries, associated with separation of right upper limb and left ankle and multiple fractures to all bones as a result of blunt force impact by object or surface consequent to being run over by a railway rolling stock". Rolling stock is the collective term that describes all items that move on a rail track, inclusive of both powered and unpowered vehicles

Gaps:
Konkan railway authorities insist that no accident nor run over was reported.

14 May 2009, The Times of India, Goa edition