Goa gets its first anti-crime squad

To hunt for 16 missing from state and ensure there are no more murders

Goa gets its first anti-crime squad

To hunt for 16 missing from state and ensure there are no more murders

The Goa police are on their toes. They have to be despite the arrests of eight people in connection with as many murders in one of the hottest tourist destinations in India, the police are concerned about the 16 people still missing in the state.

Goa witnessed 10 murders last week, but two are believed to be suicides. Among the dead, two are among those who went missing since early October. The police believe the killers could be at large and have now formed special squads to trace the missing people.

Superintendent of police, Goa, Atmaram Deshpande, said, "We have formed two special squadsu00a0- all men and all women - available to every police station where a missing persons complaint has been registered. The squads have to ensure that there are no further incidents of robberies and murders.

Though we have arrested some of the accused in the case, we don't want to take any chances, as the killers may be roaming on the streets."

He added, "Preliminary investigations has revealed that two adults and their two children were killed by four petty thieves. While four other women were killed by two people, who were assisted by two women, two other deaths look like they were suicides."

More tension
On Friday, a powerful blast that killed two people on a busy street in Madgaon added to the tension in the city. So far, the needle of suspicion points towards Sanatan Sanstha, a right-wing organisation that has deniedu00a0 involvement and offered support to the Goa police. Goa's tourism industry is likely to suffer a huge blow this year due to incidents like these. The Israeli government has already issued a travel advisory to its citizens and asked them to keep away from Goa.

Arrested
The Panaji police arrested Babu Reddy (28), Pritesh Bichoo (19), Vidhesh Karmalkar (21) and Suresh Keshavkar (19), for the murder of a couple and their two children whose bodies were recovered from Orem creek on Wednesday.
Mumbai's Chandrakant Talwar, his wife, Syron Rodrigues and his girlfriend were arrested in connection with murders of four women. The Goa police believes robberry to be the motive behind the gruesome murders.

Do you know?
Goa Home Minister Ravi Naik has said the police will probe the links of State Transport Minister Sudin Dhavalikar's wife with Sanatan Sanstha

36 Approximate number of members in special squad to hunt missing people in Goa
10 Number of people murdered in Goa last week
18 Number of people who went missing in Goa since October
2 Men from Mumbai arrested in connection with the murders
Rs 9,320 Amount found in a murdered woman's purse
40 Members of Sanatan Sanstha questioned by the Maharashtra police in connection with the Madgaon blast on Friday

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