For Rs 50,000 they killed four women

For Rs 50,000 they killed four women
Preetu Nair, TNN

PANAJI: The four murders allegedly committed by Siva G TNN Chandrakant Talwar and Syron Rodrigues got them a booty of just over Rs 50,000, police sources revealed. The duo would offer women a lift in their car and then kill them for their money and jewellery.

Talwar, 35, from St Inez would strangulate the women, while Rodrigues, 20, from Chimbel would purchase 1 litre of petrol, which the duo would sprinkle on the victim before setting the body ablaze. Syron’s girlfriend, a minor, would convince the women to accept the lift.

“The total amount that they got after selling the victims’ gold ornaments—1 mangalsutra, 2 gold chains, 2 pairs of gold earrings—is Rs 42,000. Another Rs 9,320 in cash was found in Malati Yadav’s purse,” said police sources.Explaining how the murders took place, police sources said, “Sharmila Mandrekar was walking home when they stopped the car and asked her for directions.

They then offered her a lift home as it was in the same direction. Once she was in the car, they took a wrong road. Seeing this Sharmila raised an alarm, but when Talwar threatened to kill her, she kept quite.

26 October 2009 , The Times of India, Goa edition

Sanatan ideology a worry: DIG

Sanatan ideology a worry: DIG

TNN, 

PANAJI: With the role of Hindu group Sanatan Sanstha coming under the scanner after two of its "important functionaries" were being accused of carrying explosives that led to the blast in Margao on the eve of Diwali, a senior police official has said there was "something wrong" with the organization's ideology.

"If their active members, who are important functionaries in the Sanstha are involved in the blasts in Margao, then there is definitely something wrong with the ideology of the organization," said DIG Ravindra Yadav.

He said, "There is also something wrong with the philosophy of the organization. Nobody expects that an organization which has members who chant names of gods, read holy scriptures and talk about spirituality, would also have someone like Malgonda Patil and others, who indulge in terrorist activities. "

DIG Yadav said that even in the past, several members of the Sanstha have been accused in blasts in Maharashtra and now important members in Goa are involved in the blast.

Police have said that though they are investigating the role of Sanatan Sanstha, "nowhere have we said that Sanatan is involved in the blast. We have only said that these two persons have linkages with Sanatan".

Sanatan has claimed that Patil, who died in the blast, is not an administrator of the Sanatan ashram. "But he was definitely in a high position in the Sanstha. There is no doubt that Patil is among the top influential persons in the organization," said DIG Yadav.

However, when asked if they have found any evidence linking Patil to the Sanstha and his role in the Sanstha during the raids conducted by Special Investigation Team (SIT), DIG Yadav said, "Investigations are in progress and we are analyzing the evidence".

Meanwhile, police sources said they have come across people who have revealed that Patil claimed to be an administrator of the Sanatan. "When our CID official called up the organization for any information, they would put him in touch with Patil, claiming that he was the administrator, authorized to give information about the organization to outsiders", said police sources.

No arrests have been made so far in connection with the blast. In their latest press release, Sanatan has claimed, "Many Goans have affirmed their support to us. They have realized that the investigation of the Margao blast is being conducted purely from a political perspective and that Sanatan has been held to ransom for it".

However, Sanatan Sanstha's spokesperson Abhay Vartak told TOI, "We are into spiritual science and we have discarded hinsa (violence). Patil was just a prasarak (one who spreads spiritual awareness on behalf of the organization) and staying in the ashram. If the police feel that our philosophy that has inspired lakhs of people is wrong, then thousands of people should have committed the act that Patil is accused of doing by the police".

October 26, 2009, The Times of India, Goa edition

'No chance of facility being misused'

EDITORIAL OF OHERALD, Goa  REACTING TO THE STORY

http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=29034&cid=15

26 Oct,2009

The Russians are coming...
For most of us, the cold war ended in the last decade of the last  century. But for others, it seems, it’s still on. On Saturday, the Goa edition of a leading national newspaper offered us the ‘sensational’ news that, “believe it or not”, Goa was offering visas on arrival. It alleged that charter tour operators had managed to secure this dangerous privilege for clients, “especially from Russia”, with the “active connivance of immigration authorities”. For a mere $40, “at least on paper” (implying that this was supplemented by further underhand payments), it said, Russian Mafioso could gain entry to Goa and India.
Really...?
Apparently, Indian Ambassador to Moscow P P Shukla had objected to this pernicious practice. But it quoted the “latest letter” from the ambassador in this regard as having been written on 15 January 2009; over 10 months ago and during the previous tourism season! This is a small storm in a tiny cup containing some very old and very stale tea.
It is not a new issue. It actually came up in January, when Ajor Ananenko, a Russian tourist visiting Goa on a Temporary Landing Permit (TLP), was caught by the Pernem police for overstaying after his TLP expired. Goa Police then questioned his entry on a TLP. The issue was thoroughly discussed at the time in Herald. We thought it was resolved, but apparently it was not so.
Visas on arrival are not the kind of security flaw they are being made out to be. Countries that count tourism as an important source of their revenue – including Thailand, Sri Lanka and Singapore – offer visas on arrival to tourists. With computerised databases, the possibility that terrorists or personae non grata can get into the country using this route is greatly reduced. Besides, visas on arrival are for short stays, and are rarely valid for more than 15 days or a month, while the normal visitor’s visa is valid for six months.
The Temporary Landing Permit (TLP) – the Indian version of the Visa-on-Arrival – isn’t issued to any and every Russian arriving in Goa. Before the 2008-09 season, Russian charter tourists flying into Goa came only from Moscow. However, last year, charter aircraft began flying out of other Russian cities, like Yekaterinburg and St Petersburg, none of which have Indian consulates to issue visas.
Since these towns are thousands of kilometres away from Moscow, it is completely unrealistic to expect would-be charter tourists to travel to Moscow and back just to get their Indian visas. That is why the central government allowed charter tourists from only these places entry into India on Temporary Landing Permits. By the rules, charter tourists flying in from Moscow cannot ask for and should not be granted TLPs. Only those flying in from Yekatrinburg, St Petersburg and other places without consulates are supposed to get this ‘privilege’. So far, there are no complaints that these rules are being flouted.
Unnecessarily creating controversies will hurt Goa’s tourist trade, which is already reeling from the combined onslaught of the global recession and the 26/11 Mumbai terror strike. Numbers of British tourists are likely to go down this year by a further 15 per cent, and the tourist trade is hoping to make up the shortfall with increased visitors from Russia and the Ukraine.
It is not as if any Russian can or does come in on a TLP. Between September and December last year, 4,650 TLPs were issued to Russians, while a total of 17,632 Russian tourists came into Goa during the period, making it the second largest group of tourists after the British, who numbered 27,542. This means, first, that the vast majority of Russians in Goa entered with proper visas. Second, the new system of issuing TLPs increased the number of Russian tourists by over 25 per cent.
In fact, a much bigger problem is that immigration authorities in Goa tend to forget about tourists once they get in, whether with valid visas or TLPs. All records are now computerise

Goa onlya state in country to offer ' visa on arrival'