Nettie murder: Cops write to dy collector

PANAJI: Porvorim police have written to Mapusa deputy collector to initiate action against the management of the privately-run old age home in Moira for hiring Dileshwar Patra, one of the three murder accused in the Nettie Fernandes murder case.
The management had hired Patra, who was out on bail in a theft case, in February 2016, without an employee verification process.After the murder, which took place in May, the 26-year-old Patra has been at large, and is suspected to have fled to Nepal. The murder co-accusedPratamesh Naik, 21 and Chandrakant Bhise, 22were arrested last month.
Police inspector Jivba Dalvi who is heading the investigation said that Patra had worked at the old age home only for 15 days and within that time, he had succeeded in convincing 87-year-old Natividade alias Nettie Teodora Fernandes to move out of the old age home with him. “We believe, the accused got into the old age home to work as a caretaker with an ulterior motive. Otherwise, we don’t see why Patra, who could have easily got a job in the service industry, chose to work with senior citizens,” said Dalvi, adding that they would get a better insight into the crime, once Patra is arrested.
According to Dalvi, Patra was very sweet to inmates and staff and had won hearts of all within a matter of few days. Within 15 days, he succeeded to convince Nettie, who has no living relations, to leave the old age home. Nettie had even bought a flat in Socorro with Patra as a co-owner, and stayed there till her death on May 2. Naik and Bhise, Patra’s two partners-in-crime were also his jailmates. The trio had forged a friendship in jail and were allegedly involved in chain snatching cases, ATM thefts and car robberies, said the police. Naik and Bhise lived in Porvorim on rented premises. The three accused pawned Nettie’s jewellery, withdrew 7-8 lakhs of cash from her account after forging her signature and spent it at casinos, where they gambled regularly.
Nettie got a whiff of their deceit and was about to file a complaint and had even scheduled to meet her friend regarding this; but the trio acted swiftly and smothered her with a pillow on May 2 and buried her body in a trench for water harvesting in a wooded area at Mayem. Dalvi said that after committing the murder they dispersed, went out of Goa, and allegedly robbed a jewellery shop in Hubli. Naik was arrested in Ratnagiri, Bhise from Dharwad and Porvorim police is expected to arrest Patra soon.
At present, Hubli police have taken custody of Bhise and Naik and are investigating the theft case. Investigation in the murder case was carried out under the guidance of SP North Umesh Goankar, PSIs Makash Naik and Vishwajit Chodankar and police constable Vidhyanand Amonkar, who worked relentlessly on this case for a month tracking movement of the three accused, said Dalvi.