Goa elections 2017: BJP candidate to face murder case probe

BJP leader Vishwajit K Rane, who contested Goa assembly polls last month, would be interrogated soon by the police in connection with the allegation regarding his role in a 2006 murder of a man.

Though Rane's formal interrogation is yet to begin, the police have already launched a search in Anmod Ghat area to find out evidence, if any, of the 'murder' on the claims made by Rane's former driver, Pandurang Adarkar.

"Vishwajit Krishnarao Rane would be interrogated very shortly in this matter. At present, our teams are still searching for the evidence of the murder as reported by the person (Adarkar) who claimed to have witnessed the killing," police inspector Dipak Pednekar told PTI on Thursday.

Adarkar, a native of Chandgad in Kolhapur district in neighbouring Maharashtra, had purportedly claimed in a video that he had witnessed "gunning down" of one Shanu Gaonkar by Rane in a bar and restaurant at Honda village in Sattari taluka to avenge the killing of his brother Prithviraj Rane.

Prithviraj was murdered at Saleli village of Sattari tehsil in 2005. The driver had told the police Rane had disposed of Gaonkar's body in Anmod ghat, a forest area on Goa-Karnataka border.

Pednekar said though the police personnel have been combing the area extensively for the last ten days, they have failed to find any 'evidence' so far.

"We have not withdrawn our search operation. It is still going on," he added. Explaining the progress of the probe, the officer said a police team from Goa had already visited Chandgad and tried to find out if Adarkar had disclosed the incident to any neighbour during the last few months.

"(However) none of the neighbours knew about this incident. He (Adarkar) had not opened up to anyone," Pednekar said. Rane, who was in the fray in Poriem constituency, had denied his involvement in the matter, claiming Adarkar had made up the story to frame him after he was sacked from his job two months before the February 4 polls.