Crossing the line: Divar teens vandalize cemetery

DIVAR: Residents of the serene village of Piedade in Divar woke up on Friday morning to news of desecration and vandalization in the cemetery belonging to the parish church of Nossa Senhora de Piedade. However, the Old Goa police cracked the case in just eight hours after an offence was registered and arrested three teenagers, one of whom is a minor.
While nine crosses put up on different graves were uprooted and thrown on the ground, nine human skulls preserved in a pit attached to the cemetery were taken and discarded at three different locations.
The police said the incident occurred on Thursday night. Following a complaint lodged on Friday morning by Cajetan Silveira from Goltim Xim that six skulls were thrown in his residential premises, Old Goa PI Manoj Mardolkar rushed to the site with a posse of police.
On thorough verification of the area around the cemetery, police stumbled on two skulls near the post office, about 300m from the cemetery, while one was found at the entrance of a park next to the cemetery.
Parish priest Fr Anil Kumar was unaware of the incident until the complainant's wife, Luzia Silveira informed him. "I had just finished celebrating the 7am mass when Luzia came and broke the news to me. The cemetery is always locked in the night. The miscreants might have gained their entry through the narrow opening near the pit or scaled the walls," Kumar told TOI.
During the course of investigation, locals disclosed names of some boys who were seen moving suspiciously during odd hours at night. These boys were rounded up and during interrogation Terenz Gonsalves, 19, confessed to having committed the offence along with Jefry D'Costa, 18, and another 15-year-old boy, all residing in Divar. The trio also admitted that earlier on two to three occasions the complainant had scolded Gonsalves for roaming during odd hours, misbehaving in the village and for smoking and consuming alcohol at isolated places. It is also revealed that Gonsalves, is under the care of his aunt as his father works abroad and his mother is in Mumbai.
All the three accused have been arrested. PSI Suraj Samant, head constable S P Dhure, and constables Sagar Malik, Nitin Goankar, Ruepesh Halarnkar, Paresh Naik and Pradeep Gaude assisted in detecting the case. SP (North) Vijay Singh also visited the spot and declared a reward to the police personnel.
Further investigations headed by PI Manoj Mardolkar are in progress, under the supervision of SDPO- Bicholim DySP Gajanan V Prabhudessai.