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

Russian girl's death: Cops give 4 theories

Russian girl's death: Cops give 4 theories
Preetu Nair,TNN

PANAJI: While a shack owner has sought anticipatory bail in connection with the death of Elena Sukhanova, 19, whose body was found on the railway tracks in North Goa, police are looking at four different ways in which her death could have occurred.

Police seek to question Vishant Kundaikar claiming he is called Vinnie and was friendly with Elena. Vishant denied this.

The police are looking at four ways in which Elena could have died and these include Elena falling from the train, her being left unconscious on the tracks, her having been drunk and falling on the tracks, and of her being killed elsewhere and dumped on the tracks.

Article appeared on 14 May 2009, The Times of India, Goa edition
For more read The Times of India, Goa edition Page 2

HC rejects Mancic's plea to stay in Goa

HC rejects Mancic's plea to stay in Goa
Preetu Nair, TNN

PANAJI: With the high court of Bombay at Goa rejecting Polish national Adam Mancic's plea that he shouldn't be removed from the state, he will be
taken to Delhi for extradition soon, crime branch sources have said.

Vacation judge U D Salvi observed on Wednesday that "the right of the petitioner to contest the request of extradition has not been taken away by the state". "As a matter of fact, the production of the petitioner before the additional chief metropolitan magistrate, New Delhi, will enable the petitioner to effectively agitate his right to contest the extradition request," observed the judge.

Mancic was arrested in Goa after a warrant was issued against him by the Tiergarten magistrate, Germany, for shooting dead a businessman in Germany on November 3, 2008. The arrest warrant was issued through Interpol.

Mancic had subsequently, approached the high court for interim relief with a prayer that his detention by the state government, which was beyond a period of 60 days, was in breach of Article 14 (4) of the extradition treaty between the Republic of India and the Federal Republic of Germany and was illegal and therefore, he deserved to be protected in terms of requiring an embargo on his movement in Goa.

His counsel, K Paulekar submitted that the breach of the said Article comes into being as the petitioner had been detained in custody for over a period of 60 days and the state government had not received the request for extradition and documents specified in Article 12 of the extradition treaty.

Public prosecutor C A Ferreira however, argued that the order dated May 5, 2009, passed by the Government of India, required the production of Mancic before the additional chief metropolitan magistrate, New Delhi for contesting the request made by the government under section 15 of the Extradition Act, 1962.

He also pointed to the petitioner's criminal background and said that it is the obligation of the government to initiate action under the Extradition Act to extradite the petitioner to the country were he has to stand trial for the commission of an offence of murder.

After hearing both sides, the judge observed that it would be too hasty to conclude that the Government of India had not received a request for extradition along with the documents specified in Article 12 of the extradition treaty.

May 14,2009, The Times of India, Goa edition