----------------------------------------------------- Do GOACAN a favour, circulate this email to your family members, relatives, neighbours and friends. Help others be better informed CONSUMERS. ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- Documented by Goa Desc Resource Centre (GDRC) Email: [email protected] ------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------- Mahanand: soft-spoken man who killed four women for jewellery ---------------------------------------------------------------- by Roque Dias
Mahanand Naik, the rape accused who has confessed to killing four women for greed of gold, is a middle-aged man from a lower-middle class family of Shiroda. Mahanand, who sports beard, was always cool and calm in his youthful days. His ways of living were simple. A soft-spoken person, he could gain confidence of anybody. Mahanand, who is of average height, is one of the six sons and two daughters of Mr Ramnath Naik. A school dropout, he always maintained low profile. An elderly villager of Shiroda said that Mahanand studied in the Navadeep High School, Tarvale. He dropped out of the school after he failed in standard IX. Around 1994 his family purchased a rickshaw and Mahanand started making a living on it. "We can't imagine that this soft- spoken person would commit series of murders and that too by targeting young and poor girls on the pretext of marrying them," Mr S Borkar, a rickshaw driver told this reporter when he visited the Ponda rickshaw stand. Mr Borkar said that some rickshaw drivers might have unwittingly helped him in 1994 when Mahanand was novice in the business. Some persons from his village said that after 1995 he stopped plying the rickshaw and instead took up a job in a factory. But he did not continue with the job for long. "We were wondering how an unemployed man could construct a new house," a middle-aged woman villager said. She informed that Mahanand had not been seen much in the village in recent years. Another villager said that they knew that Mahanand was involved in fights but never had an idea that he was a real criminal. Villagers said that he married around 2005 to a woman from Sanvordem. The couple have a two-year-old child. His wife is working at the Ela Farm, Old Goa. She said that her husband never abused or assaulted her. Mahanand's confessions of four murders have agitated the people of his village. The anger raised its ugly head on May 1 when villagers vented their ire by setting Mahanand's house on fire. The four murders came to light when Mahanand was arrested on April 21 for allegedly raping a girl from his neighbourhood. After intensive interrogations he confessed that he killed Darshan Naik, a 22-year-old woman from Shiroda on September 27, 1994 at Bambolim. As per his confessions, Mahanand also killed Vasanti Anant Gaude (19) from Marcaim on September 10, 1995 at Khandepar, Kesar Ragunath Naik (33) from Mapa, Panchawadi on June 18, 2007 at Sanvordem and Yogita Naik (30) from Curti Ponda on January 10, 2009 at Sanquelim. Besides these four murder cases, the Ponda police are also investigating his involvement in three cases in which girls from Amlai, Panchwadi and Nirankal went missing. Mahanand will be produced before the court on May 6. -------------------------------------- The Navhind Times 06/5/09 page 1 -------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------- GOA CIVIC AND CONSUMER ACTION NETWORK ---------------------------------------------------------- promoting civic and consumer rights in Goa ---------------------------------------------------------- GOACAN Post Box 187 Margao, Goa 403 601 GOACAN Post Box 78 Mapusa, Goa 403 507 mailto: [email protected] ----------------------------------------------------------
