NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday started probe into the alleged murder of 22-year-old Felix Dahl, a Finnish national, who was killed on the intervening night of January 27 and 28, 2015 in Goa.
The Panaji bench of Bombay high court had slammed Goa police for failure to examine the case in a fair and impartial manner for the last three and half years while asking the central agency to investigate the matter.
Felix’s mother – Minna Pirhonen, a lecturer at the University of
Helsinki, has been demanding justice for her son and has even named a suspect in the murder, but Goa police claimed that it was an accidental fall due to which Felix died that night.
She told TOI over the phone from Helsinki on Saturday, “I hope CBI does justice to my son and arrests his killer. I have repeatedly named the suspect but because of influence and Goan identity, nobody touches him, and police didn’t investigate him.”
She said that she is ready to name the suspect and also provide audio recordings to CBI.
In her letter to Goa police senior officers, Minna had claimed that while Goa police called it an accidental fall, a second autopsy conducted in
Finland showed that Felix’s skull bone had been fractured and Finnish doctor found “it was very likely that the cause of death would have been falling on a flat gravel road, his head was hit with a blunt force”.
Minna has claimed that Felix had been travelling regularly with two persons – Ziaan De Janerio (from Jaipur), and one Andre Nguyen (from
Canada. “he had used a lot of money while travelling with them and had even invested in an apartment in Jaipur, which was later sold with profit. Felix told his father that they will share the profit and that is the most likely reason that he was murdered,” she adds.
She has named one Lensloi Fernandes, with whom Felix lived, in her complaint as the person who knows the facts about that night but police didn’t investigate him. “He was the last person to see Felix alive and most likely involved in his killing,” she adds in her letter.
CBI officials said they will look into all the aspects and study the autopsy reports of Goa police and Finnish doctor as well.
When the HC referred the case to CBI, the division bench comprising Justice N M Jamdar and Justice Prithviraj K Chavan observed, “This state of affairs raises some very serious questions. The incident cannot be trivialised as a mere accident. This appears to be far more than just an accidental fall, but the police have chosen not to examine. The police have a duty to check that there is no crime.”
“This failure could be the result of incompetence, indifference, prejudice, bias or an outside influence. We are not holding a disciplinary inquiry against the police authorities. Our endeavour is to ensure that there is a fair and partial investigation and the credibility of people in the rule of law in the state is maintained,” the judges had said.
