Three cops suspended over death of labourer in Goa

Panaji: Three personnel of the Goa police have been suspended in connection with the death of a 32-year-old labourer whom they had apprehended for a petty offence and later released, an official said on Friday.

The victim, Kanhaiyakumar Mondal, a native of Bihar, was found dead on the roadside in Loutolim, South Goa district on the intervening night of June 25 and 26, the official said.

A few hours before his death, personnel from the Ponda police station had apprehended Mondal for a petty offence and later dropped him off outside their jurisdiction, he said.

While initially, it appeared that a truck had run over and killed the victim, the post-mortem revealed that he was already dead when the vehicle hit him, the official said.

"As per the post-mortem report, the man had four stab injuries on his stomach and one in the neck," he said.

The truck driver was taken into custody in Karnataka and is being interrogated at Maina Curtorim police station, the official said.

Following an inquiry, Superintendent of Police (South) Sunita Sawant on Thursday ordered the suspension of head constable Ravindra Naik and constables Ashwin Sawant and Pritesh Prabhu, he said.

The trio had not made an entry in the police diary about the man they had detained and dropped him off just outside of the police station's jurisdiction, the official said.

A case of murder has been registered against unidentified persons in connection with the death, and further probe is underway, the official said.