Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Russian teenager's death: Cops quiz waiter

Russian teenager's death: Cops quiz waiter
Preetu Nair, TNN

PANAJI: Police on Tuesday questioned Vinay Haldankar alias Vinny a shack waiter, reportedly close to Russian teenager Elena Sukhnova, 19, whose
mutilated body was found on the railway tracks about 3.5 kms north of Thivim on Friday.

Vinay was missing since Elena's death and was picked up on Tuesday morning from Calangute. Elena, who had gone missing on an earlier instance, had told the Calangute police that she had been touring with Vinay and was in love with him.

"He is being interrogated along with two others. We neither concede nor rule out his involvement in the crime," a senior police official stated.

Police are also on the look out for another waiter, Vir Singh, from Himachal Pradesh, who was asked to quit his job as he was friendly with Elena. He had reportedly left Goa on May 6.

13 May 2009, The Times of India, Goa edition

Russian consulate shoots letter to CM

Russian consulate shoots letter to CM
Preetu Nair, TNN

PANAJI: With mystery continuing to surround the death of Russian teenager Elena Sukhonova, whose mutilated body was found on railway tracks in the state on Friday morning, the Russian authorities have now written to chief minister Digambar Kamat to "take the course of investigation under your personal control".

In his letter to the chief minister dated May 11, consul general Alexander V Mantytsky from the Russian consultate in Mumbai said that the case has already drawn the attention of official authorities in Russia as well as that of Russian nationals in Russia and India.

"The consul general requests your excellency to take the course of investigation under your personal control and give instructions to carry out investigation at the earliest and keep the consul general well-informed on the above matter," the letter added.

Vikram Varma, the advocate authorized by the Russian consul general to take necessary action in connection with the investigation of the unnatural death of the 19-year-old Elena Sukhonova, while speaking to TOI said, "The Russian authorities are concerned about the death of Sukhonova. The matter is being monitored at the highest level by Russian authorities at Mumbai and also at Delhi."

"Having visited the scene where Sukhonova's mutilated body was found, the accident theory doesn't seem conclusive.

"There are some unanswered questions that we have raised with the investigating team and we indeed have confidence that the investigating team will look into it"," Varma said.

However, the lawyer refused to elaborate on what exactly the unaswered questions were.

The Russian authorities, who had also made a request with the superintendent of police (North) on April 9 for the deceased Sukhonova's passport and other identity documents, panchanama, photographs of the deceased, besides a copy of the first information report (FIR) and the postmortem report are still awaiting the same from the police.

13 May 2009, The Times of India, Goa edition