Cops' theory on Elena's death inconclusive

Cops' theory on Elena's death inconclusive
TNN

PANAJI: Russian authorities have refused to accept the Goa police's accident theory in teenager Elena Sukhonova's death and said that homicide can't be excluded.

Elena's body was found on the railway tracks at Thivim on May 8. Police initially said that she might have boarded a train to Mumbai and accidentally fallen off of it. However, till date they have not got a single witness who could confirm her presence at the Thivim railway station.

"The Goa police's accident theory is not conclusive. There is a strong suspicion that it could be a case of homicide. Till date we have not received definite answers from the police," said Russian consul general Alexander Mantytsky, who was in Goa to discuss Elena's case with state government authorities.

"A number of our requests to expedite the investigation remained unanswered by the concerned authorities," he said. Admitting that there is a kind of police inefficiency in handling the case, he said, "The police is ill-equipped because they don't have a forensic laboratory. Some reports are pending for years together as the final report is not available." The Russian embassy authorities in Delhi have also taken up the matter with the ministry of external affairs and requested them to investigate into the case.

The consul general met the chief secretary and IGP on Tuesday to discuss Elena's case and also discussed eight more cases that involved an assault on a Russian, arrests and a jail sentence slapped on a Russian, and two cases of robbery of Russian tourists.

Describing Elena as a college student, he said that her parents have asked for her nails and hair for DNA profiling as she her face is now unrecognizable.

Stating that the inefficiency gives a bad name to Goa, he said, "Most Russians are victims of crime and that is why we want a thorough investigation into the cases. We want the accused to be punished. We don't want to promote a negative image of Goa."

Criticizing the stand of home minister Ravi Naik, who blamed foreign tourists for tarnishing Goa's image by their late night lifestyle, he asked, "If late night parties are illegal, then the police should enforce the law and ensure that there are no violations. Why blame the tourists, who are coming here to relax?"

About 44,000 Russian tourists visited Goa during the tourist season of 2008-2009. "Russians are also looking at Kerala. Now, the competition between Goa and Kerala is going to increase," he said.

The Russian counsel said that though some of the cases have been finalized by the police, they found the "answers in the mentioned letters quite formal as they do not contain any concrete information about the course of investigation."

3 June, 2009, The Times of India, Goa edition