‘OUR DAUGHTER DID NOT KILL HERSELF BY DROWNING’

Demanding justice for her daughter, the mother of a 19-year-old girl found dead in a semi-nude condition at the Calangute beach has alleged foul play. She told media in Goa, “We want justice. Whoever has done this, needs to come out. If she killed herself by drowning, why was the body not bloated? Even her stomach was not filled with water. It only had the breakfast she had taken.”

Her father said, “I dropped her at the bus stop and I saw her board the bus. Then I proceeded my way. I got a call ten minutes later from a cousin who works at the mall (along with her) that she hadn’t reached. I asked her to wait a little more as sometimes the bus is slow, but she never reached.”

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has asked the Crime Branch to assist in the investigation. Goa Police had first said that she died of drowning and ruled out rape or murder when the autopsy found no evidence of sexual assault or injuries. The missing person’s report was lodged shortly before 1pm on the day she went missing. Police say they reached out to a bus conductor at Mapusa who recognised her and said she was alone at the time. The family has handed over her mobile phone to the police in the hope that it will offer some clue leading to her death. “I have met the SP and I am convinced that the truth will come out,” the father said after a late evening meeting with the top brass of the Goa Police on Sunday.