PANAJI: A sessions court has granted conditional bail to four accused arrested in the shootout case at Santa Cruz, last year. Their counsels submitted to the court that the accused have been in judicial custody for more than six months. The court granted bail stating that the investigation is complete and the prime conspirator has also been released.
The four accused were Miguel alias Major Araujo,19, David Araujo, 23, Francis alias Franky Nadar, 23 – all residents of Santa Cruz, and Samuel D’Souza, a 20-yr-old resident of St Inez.
“No purpose will be served in keeping the accused behind bars. There are 88 witnesses to be examined. If accused are found guilty, they have to undergo sentences,” the court stated.
“In this crime, 11 accused are released and the main accused Zenito Cardozo is also released on parity ground. The accused are entitled for bail. The chargesheet is filed and investigation is over,” the court held.
The prosecution stated that three of these accused were seen on CCTV camera footage. Initially, 24 persons were arrested, but the chargesheet was filed against only 15 persons. The prosecution stated that the complainant Imran Bepari was operating a gang called Boom Boom and yet another gang named Black Panther was operated by Ronny D’Souza.The accused were arrested on June 20 last year after a gang trespassed into the house of Bepari and fired gunshots at him resulting in the death of Sonu Yadav. TOI had reported that the shootout was a fallout of rivalry between the two gangs.