Goa Police question local BJP leader in murder case

Goa Police last evening questioned BJP state executive member Vishwajit Krishnarao Rane in connection with a 2006 murder of a villager.
"Vishwajit Krishnarao Rane was summoned by us last evening," Deputy Superintendent of Police (Bicholim) Ramesh Gaonkar told PTI.
He said Rane was questioned for over two hours by a team of policemen as "we wanted answers to some questions" after the interrogation of his former driver Pandurang Adarkar.
Adarkar, in a video that went viral recently, purportedly claimed that he saw Rane shooting one Shanu Gaonkar in a village in Sattari tehsil. The claim remains unsubstantiated.
Rane, the BJP candidate in Poriem constituency in the Assembly polls held last month, said he is ready to cooperate with the police in the investigation so that all charges against him are cleared.

"I'm available for police investigation whenever they want. I have nothing to hide," said the 43-year-old BJP leader.

He was questioned at Valpoi police station by a team comprising the DSP and Inspector Dipak Pednekar who is investigating the case.
The DSP said that Rane was allowed to leave after questioning and may be summoned again if his statement is needed later.
Adarkar had claimed in the video that Rane had shot Shanu to avenge the lynching of his brother Prithviraj by a mob in 2005, the police inspector said.
He had claimed that Shanu was a part of the mob and Rahe disposed of his body at Anmod Ghat, a hilly area on the Goa- Karnataka border.

Police, after Adarkar made his claim, conducted searches in the Ghats for evidence which have not yet yielded any result.