“The guilt kills me every day,” says 55-year-old Leonard Valdaris. Five years ago, it was on the intervening night of April 16-17, 2014, that he handed over his 24-year-old son Agnelo to the Wadala Government Railway Police (GRP) for questioning in a theft case, only to be handed back his body. Advertising While the police claimed that he was run over by a local train as he tried to escape from custody, a CBI investigation revealed that Agnelo had been brutally assaulted in jail. Valdaris believes his son died because of torture in custody. He has been struggling over the last five years seeking justice for his son and punishment for the perpetrators. All the eight policemen arrested in the case are out on bail and the trial in the case is yet to begin, with charges yet to be framed before the special court. The case, which came up for hearing last month, is adjourned till June. “I am a law-abiding citizen. When the police said they wanted to question Richie (Agnelo) on suspicion of theft, I discharged my duty and handed him over to them, even though they came without a warrant. I wish I had known what they intended to do,” Valdaris says. The 55-year-old, who works as a foreman with the Mumbai Port Trust, filed a petition in the Bombay High Court in 2014 seeking proper investigation in the case. After the last hearing before the HC on March 4 this year, the court, in its detailed order, said that despite its orders in 2014, no efforts have been made to retrieve the CCTV footage from the police station. Advertising “The CCTV footage could have been an important piece to find out the truth. Section 201 (destruction of evidence), therefore, ought to have been added. We, therefore, find that a responsible agency like the CBI is not acting freely and fairly in the matter. We, therefore, permit the petitioners to point out an alternative agency to which the work can be handed over, if the petitioners so desire,” the bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and B P Dharmadhikari said. “The offence was gruesome and heinous. I only want the perpetrators punished for it. The CBI is the country’s topmost agency. I am hoping they can bring some reprieve to us,” Valdaris says. The initial chargesheet filed against the eight policemen only included sections for wrongful confinement, voluntarily causing hurt, false charge of offence made with intent to injure and criminal conspiracy. Even now, the CBI, to whom the case was handed over in 2016, says the evidence does not point towards murder. The CBI, in its probe, added sections including 377 (unnatural sex) and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. According to the CBI chargesheet, four men, including Agnelo, and a 15-year-old minor were picked up by the Wadala GRP to investigate a case of theft of gold ornaments. The men were kept in a lock-up and beaten up by the police with belts with one of them tied upside down. The men and the minor were also made to perform oral sex on each other, hence POCSO provisions were invoked by the CBI against head constable Suresh Mane and constables Vikas Suryavanshi and Satyajit Kamble. During the last hearing, the HC had told Valdaris that he had a “last chance” to prove murder charge can be applied in the case. The CBI told the court that, among the witnesses, is the motorman of a local train, claiming he had seen a person running between the tracks but by the time he hit the brakes it was too late. Valdaris submitted that there are other witnesses, including the other victims in the case, who said in their statements that Agnelo was unable to walk after being assaulted and could not have run. They also said he was threatened by the accused to be thrown under train. In 2014, the HC had said an attempt was made to destroy evidence by the state CID, which did not seize the CCTV footage from the police station. The police had claimed it was not available as it was erased every 15 days. In 2016, the HC had said it was unable to accept the theory of the CBI that Agnelo had suffered a suicidal or accidental death and directed the CBI to probe further.

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