Airoli killer remained calm, showed no remorse after murder

Police personnel from Navi Mumbai disguised themselves as dog catchers from the civic body and kept a watch on the uncle of the eight-year-old girl after he allegedly kidnapped and killed her. They were shocked to find his attitude extremely casual as he walked out of his Mira Road building without showing any remorse.

Accused Clarence Fonseca, a resident of Akash Nidhi Complex in Ramdev Park area of Mira Road near Kanakia police station, had allegedly kidnapped and killed Franshela Vaz. After murdering the eight-year-old, Fonseca dumped the body in the bushes at Gaimukh in Ghodbunder area near Mira Road. The hapless girl, whose body was found in a decomposed state, was a student of New Horizon English School.

Fonseca has two adjoining flats on the fifth floor of the posh society's F-Wing and he has two cars too. He lived with his wife and three children.

"The body was completely decomposed and the victim's hair had left her skull. Her school uniforms were found near the body and beside the clothes, there were beer bottles lying. However, it is not confirmed if Fonseca had drunk beer there as the spot seems to be visited by tipplers,"said a police officer.

Another officer, who conducted panchnama, said, "After the kidnap, we suspected his role and monitored his movements as we expected that he might have kept the girl in his custody without telling anyone. But later we learnt that he had killed the girl. After sustained questioning, he revealed everything and took us to the spot where he had dumped the body. The spot in Ghodbunder area is on the roadside adjacent to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park."

A cop deployed in the Akash Nidhi Complex said, "Two days ago, Fonseca came to the watchman's cabin and asked us who we were. Since he had casually mentioned about the increasing number of stray dogs, we told him that we were dog catchers from the civic body. His attitude was very casual and he was living a normal daily life. Once we confirmed our suspicion, we held him outside the building on Thursday. Then he revealed the entire incident."

A shocked resident of the building said, "Fonseca was a very decent and calm man. We never thought a religious person like him could kill anyone, let alone a minor girl. He had in the past got converted into different religions thrice."

When this correspondent reached Fonseca's residence, two plain-clothes policemen were keeping a watch there. "We have been told to keep a watch on the visitors while his entire family has been taken to the police station for interrogation," said one of the cops.