The guy who came forward to help in the case has lost his job only because of teh irresponsible behaviour of the police.
This bus conductor friend had seen Siddi on Thursday last at Mapusa bus stand and talking to herself and looked confused and depressed.
When he saw the missing pictures on social media, he called up the father the next day and informed him that he had seen Siddhi at the Mapua bus stand. The father told the police about this friend, and that is how this poor boy got himself into trouble.
SURAJ NANDREKAR
Editor, Goemakrponn
Its been almost a week since Siddhi’s body was found at Calangute beach in a questionable position, and the police are still clueless on what has happened or instead, they pretend to say they have no clues.
The parents of the deceased girl have frequently changed their statement, maybe under police pressure. First, the father said that the police harassed him and blamed him for not taking care of his daughter. He had alleged it was a murder and questioned why did police still not find her clothes.
However, the next day, he said, the police are doing their job very well, and in fact, his daughter was depressed after she tested positive for COVID19 in April and threatened suicide.
Now the question arises why did the father change his statement within 24 hours? That too after meeting the police on Saturday? Was there any kind of pressure from the police?
Another issue that has come to the fore is the poor bus conductor, Siddhi’s schoolmate. The guy who came forward to help in the case has lost his job only because of teh irresponsible behaviour of the police.
This bus conductor friend had seen Siddi on Thursday last at Mapusa bus stand and talking to herself and looked confused and depressed.
When he saw the missing pictures on social media, he called up the father the next day and informed him that he had seen Siddhi at the Mapua bus stand. The father told the police about this friend, and that is how this poor boy got himself into trouble.
Despite giving the statement to the police, the police started harassing him as if he was not the informed but the murderer. They often picked him up from the bus stand and home and could not attend to his duties. Finally, he lost his job.
Is this the kind of treatment met out to the witnesses? Why could the police not call him for questioning after his duty hours? Who will now pay this poor guy if he is innocent? Will, the police take care of his family now?
If teh witnesses and informers are treated in such a way, will anyone in Goa come forward to give any information?
Even if teh police have some suspicion of this guy, they have to be absolutely sure and handled the situation better.
Till now, the former bus conductor is the only person to have seen Siddhi last. But what has happened to the CCTV cameras? Aren’t any footages available?
After the lifting of COVID19 restrictions, many businesses have opened in coastal areas, and it would be surprising to find no footage of Siddhi anywhere, which means there was something that has happened to the girl.
Even though teh Chief Minister, Dr Pramod Sawant, has said that the investigations are on, there does not seem to be any change in the attitude of the police, who still feel it was a suicide.
Nobody knows what has happened to viscera and swab samples yet.
The police will first need to investigate the case like murder and not drowning to find the culprit.