Court allows CBI to close Felix Dahl murder case

Panaji: After nearly a decade of investigation conducted by the CBI and Goa police in connection with the murder of 22-year-old Swedish-Finnish national Felix Dahl, the judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) in Canacona allowed the CBI to close the investigation in the case. The court accepted the view of the premier investigation agency on the basis of evidence that there was no foul play, motive and homicidal attack.

In 2023, after investigating for nearly five years, the CBI filed a closure report in the Dahl murder case due to “lack of evidence”.

“The closure report is accepted,” said Canacona JMFC Smita Sail in the order.

Dahl came to Goa for a holiday in Oct 2014 and was said to have been last seen at a restaurant at Patnem in Canacona before his body was found on a gravel road, 200m away from the restaurant, on Jan 28, 2015. Goa police were informed by a local who saw Dahl’s body lying in front of her house at 5.30am.

In July 2018, the Bombay high court transferred the case to the CBI in the “interest of justice”, while castigating Goa police for its failure to examine the case in a fair and impartial manner.

“The investigating officer has recorded the statements of the other witnesses, from which prima facie no foul play can be noted. Also, the statement of witnesses does not bring the doubt that there was a homicidal attack on Dahl. Further, it is important to state that there are no witnesses; there is no evidence that has come out from the statement of the witnesses of any motive or enmity with Dahl to lead them to the extent of killing him. Also, no weapon was found in the vicinity,” the court observed.

Referring to the allegation that the CBI had not considered the HC’s observation, the JMFC observed that after the CBI took over the case, it had considered all relevant factors and had conducted investigation to trace the cause of the death and whether it was due to homicide.

“In this way, by keeping all the facts on a single plate, one cannot avoid the fact that the death occurred in 2015 and thereafter there has been a passage of time. And therefore, whatever evidence the investigating officer could have done to its best has been done in its investigation and the final conclusion is been placed before this court in the form of a final report, which prima facie appears to be satisfactory in nature,” the court observed.

It noted that from the entire investigation paper, there was an indication that the possibility of homicide was considered from all angles and that it was concluded that Dahl’s death was not a case of homicide.

From the case paper, it was also revealed that no direct evidence is available. “The suspicion of involvement of Lenslood Fernandes, a local, and Ziaan de Janeiro, the person who travelled with Dahl, has also been ruled out by way of the circumstantial evidence at this stage. Similarly, as per the AIMS medical report, there were no signs of assault or struggle on Dahl’s body, therefore, a doubt has been raised on the existence of a homicidal attack,” the court observed.

“To summarise that from the case papers, it is revealed that the investigating officer, after considering all the factors, has ruled out the homicide hypothesis firmly. Nevertheless, there is the change in the investigation procedure wherein the AIMS medical report, Dr Harish Pathak report, the autopsy report, the final cause of death report, chemical analysis report, as well as the Finnish report, rule out at this stage that there is a higher chance of accidental death than of homicide,” the court observed.
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