Panaji: The Bombay High Court at Goa on Tuesday directed the Goa Police Crime Branch to file an FIR in connection with the mysterious death of Father Bismarque Dias, a Catholic priest and social worker, and submit a status report of the investigation every three months.
Fr. Dias, who was protesting against alleged illegal real estate development near his village, St. Estevam in North Goa, was found dead in a water body near Mandovi river in November 2015.
Activists and Opposition parties suspected that the priest could have been murdered for opposing illegal real estate in his village. The police, however, after conducting a preliminary inquiry, had claimed that he drowned while swimming. Activist Sudeep Dalvi and family members of Fr. Dias, who have been campaigning for a formal investigation, said the HC’s direction proves there is substance in their contention that his death was suspicious.