Preetu Venugopalan, TNN 8 December 2009, 04:59am IST

PANAJI: The Russian girl who was allegedly raped says that police forced her to register a complaint of assault and threatened her that her visa would be revoked.

Although the girl alleged that at about 2am on December 2 she was raped by Fernandes, who had contested the assembly elections in June 2007, Colva police registered a case of attempt to rape.

According to the FIR, Fernandes "jumped on the complainant to rape her". The complainant pleaded with him not to rape her. "He remained on the complainant for about 10 minutes. The complainant has received scratches and black marks all over her body as she tried to prevent the rape."

Speaking to TOI, the girl, who arrived in Goa in August 2009 on a business visa and works as a Russian representative in a five star hotel in South Goa said, "The Goa police seems to have preconceived notions about foreigners and they judge all foreigners in a similar fashion." She claimed that she had been wronged twice.

"First, by Fernandes, who pretended to be friendly and helpful and then raped me, and then by the police officer, who tried to scare me off. I want justice and that's why I have approached the Russian consulate," she said.

Explaining the sequence if events on that night, the girl said she had gone to a shack at Colva with a friend when Fernandes joined them at the bar and offered some cocktails. They were in the shack till 2am. "I had come on my scooter. But as I felt uneasy driving the bike after the cocktails, John offered to drop us home and we agreed as I knew John," she said.

The girl claims that she was raped after her friend was dropped home. "I was scared and begged him to drop me home. When I reached home I was in a state of shock and collapsed on the bed." She claimed that she woke up the next afternoon and went to the police station to report the incident.

"I was told by lady police officers that this was a case of molestation and I must complain accordingly. Later, the police inspector tried to influence me that to ensure that I don't get into trouble I should drop the charges against Fernandes."

Meanwhile PI Sidhant Shirodker, who was holding charge of Colva police station when the girl registered the complaint, has refuted charges that the Russian girl was harassed.

He stated the girl arrived at the police station and wrote the complaint herself, which was received and registered at 4.15 pm the same day.

Preetu Venugopalan, TNN 5 December 2009, 04:20am IST, the times of india, goa edition

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