By IANS,
Panaji : Sluggish investigations and inordinate delays by the Goa police has left Dmitry Prosnyakov, father of a 21-year-old Russian youth who was allegedly murdered in Goa along with his girlfriend a couple of years ago, completely exasperated.
Prosnyakov was in Goa to visit the place where the remains of his 21-year-old son Anton were put to rest, after his largely decomposed body, along with that of his girlfriend Marina Pulina, was found in a thicket near Vagator beach in November 2007.
“They (Goa Police) say that they are investigating but I don’t have any hopes. The police are simply doing nothing,” Prosnyakov, who is an engineer working in Moscow, told IANS.
Elaborating on the frustration in engaging with a lethargic police force, Prosnyakov said that the police had taken years merely to get some basic formalities done, which were necessary for the investigation of his son’s murder.
“I had sent the samples required for DNA test within three days from Moscow. But then it took almost two years for the Goa police to get the final test done,” the father said.
Prosnyakov, completely disillusioned with the police investigations, said that the double murder could have happened because the culprits probably tried to rape Anton’s girlfriend Marina.
“They were normal youngsters who really liked India. They did not carry too many valuables or money on them. From how I see it, the motive could have been rape, after which they murdered both,” Prosnyakov said.
The Russian said that Goa was certainly not a safe place to holiday in.
“It is definitely not a safe place to be in. After what happened to my son, I don’t think its advisable as a holiday spot.”
Incidentally, the double murder took place not too far from the spot where British teenager Scarlett Keeling was found murdered at the adjoining Anjuna beach last year. The case is also being investigated by the Anjuna police, which has attracted much flak for the manner in which they probed the Scarlett murder.
A Goa police spokesperson told IANS that the police were trying to get to the bottom of the Anton-Marina murder.
“We have not closed the case. But the bodies were found in a completely decomposed state. That was an impediment in the investigations as we could not ascertain how exactly the duo met with their death,” the spokesperson said.