Fr. Bismarque had recorded a video of his impending murder – By Bosco de Souza Eremita. courtesy Vauradencho Ixtt.

In a chilling video, environmental activist late Fr Bismarque Dias mysteriously found dead in Mandovi estuary last year, virtually foresaw his untimely demise and even named people who should be investigated first in the event he was found dead.

Father Dominic Sequeira, assistant parish priest of St Stephen’s Church, St Estevam said that the video recording was submitted to the police for investigations months ago, but lamented that the people named in the recording by the late priest were not investigated by the police.

Environmental activist late Fr. Bismarque Dias

The priest said that Fr. Bismarque had predicted that he would be killed by the builders’ mafia and therefore had prepared his own video recording a few months before his death, so that the culprits behind his murder are made public.   

Fr. Sequeira reiterated that politicians were blocking free investigations into the probe and bemoaned the fact that crucial eyewitnesses who would have changed the complexion of the conclusions over his death, were deliberately not  interrogated by police. 

He said, police had ignored the video recording and cited instances of deliberate omissions by investigators.

“We are confident that the soul of  late Fr. Bismarque will not rest till those behind  the cover up  and those behind the destruction of our environment  are  exposed”, said  Father Sequeira. “Slowly all those powerful people will be exposed,” he asserted.

Fr. Bismarque’s body was found on 7 November, 2015 floating at an isolated spot of the Mandovi in th island village of St Estevam after he went missing on November 5.  The family has refused to conduct the last rites till proper investigations are conducted into his death.

“We are not going to keep quiet at this orchestrated cover-up. We are planning to approach the court in an effort to nail the murders,” said Sudip Dalvi, a confidante of the deceased firebrand activist.

On March 3, the Crime Branch declared that it had completed its inquiry and termed the death as “accidental”.

BJP govt. stooge SP Kartik Kashyap

“We have inquired into each and every aspect and allegation in the case and not kept any aspect of inquiry open,” Superintendent of Police of Crime Branch, Kartik Kashyap told media. “Both post-mortem reports clearly mentioned that death was due to drowning.”

Every name alleged by the family, friends and activists has not only been verified, but we have put it on record with their statements, Kashyap added.

But this was disputed by Dalvi. “My fears have come true because I had foreseen this situation. In hindsight, in the initial days of the case, we had our chief minister who declared that it was a simple open and shut case. This was echoed by the police chief. When the boss says such things there’s no way the subordinate staff can go against their boss’ utterance.’

Dalvi pointed out that police had not called him for questioning and in fact he was turned away when he tried to meet the investigating officer, after a video was submitted to the police.

Late Fr. Bismarque had named five people in the video, including two brothers and a local village elected representative, said Dalvi, quoting the names to Vauradencho Ixtt.

Dalvi pointed out that the murder was a “super intelligent plot” because the mastermind used the two boys as a lure to accompany Fr. Bismarque to a desolated spot. While one is a lad of 18 years and cannot be subjected to a lie detector test because of he being underage, the other though 19 years, has evaded the test since he has a mental ailment.

Advocates Jose Peter D’Souza and Caroline Collasso, legal advisors to Bismarque’s family, said the inquiry right from the beginning was haphazard in order to kill the case. They told the local media that the police, instead of collecting evidence, had tried to destroy it.

They charged the police of using a forged panchanama which was taken into consideration by Crime Branch when they took over investigations.

“The clothes from the site of the incident were taken to Bismarque’s home by the assistant parish priest and it was collected by police from the residence of Fr. Bismarque, not from the site as claimed in the panchanama report.” 

The lawyers’ report also revealed that a lady, who is politically well connected, was summoned for interrogation, but within no time left the Crime Branch saying she needs a lawyer while being questioned. However, till today the lady who is seen to be a prime witness has not been questioned, the report claims amid suspicion that she may be trying to shield the culprits.

The lawyers also raised questions on the investigation of Bismarque’s vest which was found by locals with blood stains. They stated he always wore one and sought to know what happened to it and how the vest reached the spot where it was found and who took it.

Their report also raise queries as to the failure of the Crime Branch officials  not questioning five boys who had seen Bismarque at 11:30 pm on November 5 which goes completely against the theory of the two boys who had accompanied him on that fateful night

Strangely, in December, despite an unanimous demand at a public rally for the investigation into the death by a special investigation team (SIT), Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar dismissed the need for a SIT explaining that the Crime Branch was manned by very competent officers.