Goa man found guilty of raping and murdering foreign tourist

A Goa court on Friday found a 31-year-old man guilty of raping and murdering a British-Irish backpacker at Palolem beach in March 2017

A Goa court on Friday found a 31-year-old man guilty of raping and murdering a British-Irish backpacker at Palolem beach in March 2017, bringing the curtain down on a grisly crime that rocked the coastal state and triggered sweeping concerns about the safety of women tourists.

Goa man found guilty of raping and murdering foreign tourist

Margao district sessions judge Kshama Joshi found Vikat Bhagat guilty under section 376 (rape), 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The quantum of the sentence will be pronounced on Monday.

“Accused is held guilty and convicted,” Joshi said. The detailed order was yet to be made public.

The victim’s family broke down; her tearful mother and sisters hugged and thanked investigating officers. “We have lost eight years of our life and we are so grateful that we can now start grieving her immeasurable loss,” the family said in a prepared statement.

Vikat Bhagat, who was 24 at the time, was last seen in the company of the tourist on March 13, 2017, on the eve of Holi at Palolem, a coastal village in south Goa where she was staying with an Australian friend to celebrate the festival. Next morning, her unclothed body was found at an isolated location some distance from the beach.

A post-mortem concluded that the 28-year-old woman died due to brain haemorrhage and constriction of the neck, and that she was raped before being murdered. The woman was on her third trip to India and had befriended the sole accused, Bhagat, the year before, according to witnesses who interacted with the two the day before she was killed.

Bhagat was a petty criminal who had earlier been booked for theft, assault and other charges.

The rape and murder was one of the most high-profile crimes against foreigners in Goa, and brought back memories of the Scarlett Keeling case from 2008.

The crime sent shockwaves through the state’s tourism industry, especially among the small but tightly knit community of foreign tourists who interacted with her during her stay at Palolem.

The family initially expressed their doubts about the police probe, suggesting that investigators were ignoring the possibility of there being more accused in the case. The British high commission which followed up the case, since she travelled on a British passport, said they were closely liaising with Indian investigating authorities in the probe.

Bhagat, who was arrested within hours of her body being found, pleaded not guilty to the charges. Video footage and eyewitness testimony from a resort in Palolem showed her with Bhagat along with a few other young men. Police ruled out the possibility of multiple assailants.

The trial began in July 2017, a little over three months after she was murdered, but faced long delays including due to the pandemic. In 2021, citing that he had spent six-and-a -half years in incarceration, a delayed trial that was nowhere close to conclusion, and the Covid pandemic, Bhagat approached the trial court for bail. His petition was denied. In 2023, the Goa high court also rejected his bail application, but directed the trial court to expedite hearing and also noted that Bhagat himself was playing truant to delay the trial.

The high court found that there were 14 reports of alleged misconduct against Bhagat during his incarceration including threatening the jailors, filing false complaints against the jailors, threatening prosecution witnesses, misbehaviour and non-cooperation, assaulting a constable of the escorting party, refusing to appear on video conferencing trial, smuggling drugs into the prison, gang war within prison, among others.

The high court first asked the trial court to complete the trial by July 17, 2024, then extended the deadline to February 17. In April 2023, British and Irish diplomats met Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant and officials of the prosecution department to seek a speedy trial. The envoys in a joint statement after the meeting said that the chief minister was receptive to their appeal. Following the meeting and the high court reprimand, the case was heard on a regular basis.

During the trial, the prosecution argued that on the night of March 13, 2017, Bhagat took advantage of his friendship with the deceased, took her in an open isolated field at Adpe-Devabag (not far from Palolem beach) and committed forceful rape and assault on her, murdered her by strangling her neck, robbed her of her belongings, and destroyed evidence of the crime. On March 14 around 7am, a local farmer who was heading to his field saw the naked body with her head and face bloodied and smashed.

The prosecution built a case based on circumstantial evidence, including blood stains on the accused’s scooter, was last seen with the victim as well as forensic evidence. The charge sheet was filed in July 2017, a little over three months after she was murdered, while hearings began in April 2018.

On Friday, the court heard arguments over the quantum of sentence with prosecutor Devanand Korgaonkar pleading for maximum punishment, arguing that the accused showed no remorse, had previous criminal history, and that the court should set a precedent for crimes against women. The prosecution also pointed to the brutality of the murder and the manner in which the body was found.

The defence argued for leniency, saying that the case is based on circumstantial evidence and that past criminal history can’t be used against a person in the absence of conviction.

Public prosecutor Sanjay Samant said the case was difficult as there was no direct evidence. “Nonetheless, we had evidence in the form of the last seen theory, medical evidence, injuries on his face and genitals, as well as a DNA match besides statements of witnesses,” Samant said.

The prosecution examined 46 witnesses. “Looking at the circumstances, the court should take a lenient view on the question of sentence. We have the statutory right to appeal and we will be appealing the order,” defence advocate Arun Braz de Sa, said.

“We fought very hard. It has ended in a conviction which is a great thing. We are thankful to the witnesses who have had to remain connected with the case for a long time. We will await a copy of the order,” deputy superintendent of police Rajendra Prabhudesai, said.

Advocate Vikram Varma, who represented the family in assisting the prosecution, said he seconded the prosecution’s demand for a maximum sentence, but stopped short of saying the family demanded a death sentence. “The death sentence is no longer an option in many countries. In India it exists, but is applied in the rarest of rare cases, it is for the court to decide,” Varma said.