Panaji (Goa): After a series of inquiries and scrutiny of jail report, the Crime Branch (CB) sleuths took into custody three under trials on suspicion into the custodial killing of notorious gangster Vinayak Karbotkar earlier this year.

Mohammed Sheikh, Rahul Kumar and George Fernandes were arrested on Friday for custodial interrogation.

“They were taken into custody from Colvale Correctional Home, where they were lodged in judicial custody for different offenses registered against them. They are not accused as of now but only suspects. We will interrogate them to ascertain their role in the murder,” said a CB official.

Karbotkar was killed in a fight that broke out between two gangs in the Sada sub-jail at Vasco on the night of January 24. At the time of the incident, Karbotkar was lodged in the jail for allegedly murdering his rival gangster Ashpak Bhengre in the Colvale Jail in June last year. He was then shifted to Sada jail. Incidentally, on the day of the clash between the two gangs the jail authorities were supposed to shift the inmates to Colvale jail but had to postpone the plan after Goa Governor Mridula Sinha’s visit.

While the role of some escort police and jail officials are suspected, the case was transferred from Mormugao police to CB in February. The Prisons Department has submitted its report to the government while the sub divisional magistrate also inquired into the incident. Both reports including other related materials are also furnished to the CB for investigation purpose. But what’s ironical is that the CCTV cameras were not in operation on the day of the incident and neither any top jail officers faced disciplinary action so far…

Team TNV