Goa rape case: Accused remanded to police custody

January 07, 2010 03:23 pm | Updated 03:23 pm IST - Panaji

John Fernandes, accused of raping a Russian girl, was remanded to a seven-day police custody by a local court on Thursday.

John, who surrendered before the Crime Branch here yesterday after absconding for almost a month, was produced before the Judicial Magistrate Margao.

John, a South-Goa based politician who unsuccessfully fought the 2007 assembly elections on Save Goa Front Party ticket, had allegedly raped a 25-year-old Russian girl by spiking her drink at Colva beach on December 1.

He had managed to get anticipatory bail in the case from district and sessions court Margao, which was later set aside by the Panaji Bench of the Bombay High Court.

The accused went absconding soon after the high court rejected his bail plea. He also approached the Supreme Court with the same but his petition was dismissed.

The Crime Branch investigating the case had issued a look-out circular and a local court had declared the accused as an absconder.

However, his lawyer Rajiv Gomes claimed that his client was not missing but was present in the country. “He did not surrender before the police as the legal formality of approaching Supreme Court was on. When his case was dismissed, he decided to surrender,” he said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.