Goa serial killer’s furlough upends life of the woman who helped catch him

On Thursday, Naik was granted furlough for 21 days, facilitating his release from jail for the first time in 14 years. This has prompted the woman, who had been a crucial link in his arrest and whom the killer has allegedly been threatening from jail, to write to the state police seeking protection.

IGP Omvir Singh Bishnoi, who has the charge of IG Prisons, did not respond to calls and a message seeking details on the grounds for his furlough.

Naik, who was an autorickshaw driver, would target local women from lower-middle class families in and around Ponda in South Goa. He would lure these women, who were in their late twenties, with the promise of marriage, investigators said.

After courting them, he would usually ask the women to wear jewellery and accompany him to meet his family. On this pretext, he would take them to deserted places — hillocks, cashew plantations or near rivulets — and strangle them with a dupatta before robbing their jewellery. Since he was married, he would often change his name when he met a woman to hide his identity, said police. He allegedly committed his first murder in Goa’s Bethora area in 1994.

Police said Naik was arrested in 2009, initially on the charge of raping the woman who has now sought police protection. “She was acquainted with him through his wife. After another woman was reported missing, her phone call records led the police to this woman, who told police that Naik had sexually assaulted her. It was only after he was taken into custody for allegedly raping her that he confessed to killing several women, and the case was cracked open,” said a police officer familiar with the probe.

In a letter to the Goa Police on Friday, the woman, now aged 36, said she has been panicking ever since she heard the news that he will be out for three weeks. “I am scared for our life and safety. Now I have settled in life and if anything happens to me, my family members will be affected,” she wrote.

“In the past, he has been calling me from jail, writing letters that he will show me what he can do when he is out of jail. I have written several complaints but no action was taken by the police. Now that he is out, I need protection as I am a victim and my cooperation with the police has helped in unraveling the mysteries of the murders of many women by him,” she stated in the letter. “Kindly ensure my safety and that of my family. My life is in your hands.”

The Sunday Express has learnt from police sources that while the formal process of granting her protection is under review, a woman police officer has been assigned for her protection.

On police protection, Goa DGP Jaspal Singh, said: “We have received an application (from the woman) seeking police protection. We will send it to the Home department for review. Meanwhile, local police have stepped up surveillance to avoid any untoward incident.”

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Auda Viegas, a social worker, who runs an NGO, Bailancho Ekvott, for the protection of the rights of women and children, said: “The convict has been calling the victim from jail, writing letters to her and threatening her employers that he will take his vengeance when he is out. An FIR was also registered by the police with regard to the threats. It is shocking that furlough has been granted to him. The victim is at risk since it was her complaint which had given the police crucial information to conduct his custodial interrogation.”