Cops make a mess of Goa rape case, again

The Goa police seem to have goofed up once again in the handling of a rape case involving a foreigner. This time it is the alleged rape of a 9-year-old Russian girl at Arambol beach on January 26.

Though the police claimed to have established the identity of the accused as Aman Bharadwaj from Uttar Pradesh, who works as a machine operator in Intech Pharma in Goa's Pernem taluka, inquiries have revealed that the police delayed action, thereby letting the accused slip.

The mother of the victim had stated in her FIR (available with DNA) that the accused was working at Intech. But the police went to the firm more than 36 hours after the crime was committed.

The inquiries revealed that the accused had come to work on Thursday morning, but when he came to know through the media that the police were searching for him, he fled.

Meanwhile, the Russian embassy has written a letter of protest to Goa's home minister, marking a copy to Union home minister P Chidambaram. Moscow has threatened to issue a travel advisory FOR Goa if the state government does not get its act together and provide security to visiting Russians.