COLVA: All the six accused charged for the murder of Margao jeweller, Swapnil Walke, were produced before the Margao sessions judge (FTC) on Wednesday for trial and were remanded in Colvale central jail.
A large posse of policemen armed with stun guns escorted the accused to the court in handcuffs. Their presence was subsequently recorded by judge Cholu Gawas. They will now be produced before the court on January 15 for further proceedings.
Walke was stabbed and shot at by Omkar Patil, Mustafa Shaikh and Evander Rodrigues on September 2 last year at Krishni Jewellers, Margao. Three months later, on December 1, a 1,200-page chargesheet was filed and 111 witnesses were named in support of the prosecution to commence trial.
Patil, Shaikh and Rodrigues were named in the chargesheet for murder, robbery by using deadly weapons, possession of arms and destruction of evidence. The chargesheet further stated that the accused failed to commit the robbery due the resistance put up by the victim.
Another three accused, Shani Kumar, Rahul Kumar and Kundan Kumar from Begusarai, Bihar, have been charged under the Arms Act for the illegal supply of arms.
The chargesheet stated that the first three accused hatched a criminal conspiracy to eliminate Walke, who owned Krishni Jewellers, by procuring illegal country-made pistols of 7.65 calibre bores from Kundan with the assistance of Rahul and Shani.
In its objection to Patil’s bail application, the crime branch had stated that on June 30, 2020, Rodrigues had booked two airlines tickets for his accomplices Patil and Shaikh to Delhi. From Delhi, Shaikh flew to Bihar and procured the guns. He and Patil then had firing practices with the guns.
Walke’s postmortem examination revealed that he had suffered 21 brutal injuries, including entry and exit gunshot wounds, nine stab wounds and 11 abrasions and bruises.