A FRESH PANCHANAMA DEMANDED BY RELATIVES OF THE TWO BALLI VICTIMS

PANJIM: Relatives of the two youths, whose charred bodies were recovered from Adarsh Krishi cooperative society, Balli, Quepem, that was set on fire by miscreants on Wednesday, have demanded that a fresh panchnama of the bodiesshould be conducted in- camera in the presence of the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM).

In a letter to home minister Ravi Naik on Saturday, the relatives of the deceased tribal youths have said that they don't believe in police investigations or the panchnama conducted by the police and would like a fresh panchanama to be conducted in-camera by the SDM.

They have again reiterated their demand that a criminal investigation should be conducted by the CBI.  Confirming this, United Tribals Associations Alliance (UTAA) convenor Govind Gawde said, "We want the panchnama and post-mortem to be conducted in-camera by the SDM as we don't trust the police."

Gawde said that the police have been constantly lying. "Police are lying when they claim that no family member has come forward to identify the bodies. Both the family members have intimated in writing to the Cuncolim and Canacona police stations, a day after the charred bodies were found, that they belong to their relative. They had also intimated the chief secretary and the IGP about this. But the police have so far not bothered to contact any of the family members. Instead they are only trying to play mischief," added Gawde.

Police had said that people are being hostile and despite efforts made to reach out to the relatives, they have not been willing to cooperate. "People are being hostile to the police. We have made every effort to contact the family members of the deceased but they are not coming forward," said police spokesperson SP A V Deshpande.

UTAA had earlier requested the GMC authorities not to conduct the post mortem till the government orders a judicial inquiry into the incident as they suspected that the police and anti-social elements in Balli area are involved in the murder.

The government has ordered a magisterial inquiry to look into the Balli disturbances that resulted in the murder of Dilip Velip of Morpirla, whose charred body was found on Thursday and Mangesh Gaonkar, a resident of Canacona, whose body was recovered on Wednesday night from the same building.