The Mapusa Fast Track Court has ordered the framing of charges against five accused—Anshuman Sharma, Jai Deep Duhal, Manish Rauthan, Lalsab Nadaf and Johnson Mascarenhas—for wrongfully confining a group of tourists and committing dacoity under the guise of offering accommodation in Porvorim.
While ordering the framing of charges, the court rejected the defence’s argument that a ₹8,000 transaction was a legitimate payment for spa services, citing CCTV evidence showing that the victims were inside the premises for only 10 to 12 minutes. According to the prosecution, the incident took place on September 15, 2020. Accused Lalsab Nadaf, who was riding a scooter, intercepted the complainant and three of his friends near Dolphin Circle in Calangute.
Under the pretext of arranging accommodation, he led their car to a villa near the O’Coqueiro Circle in Porvorim. Once the complainant and his friends entered the premises through a rear entrance, the door was immediately locked. The victims were allegedly pushed onto a sofa, threatened with death, and forced to hand over their wallets and mobile phones. Two of the victims were also allegedly physically assaulted with slaps and blows. Accused Anshuman Sharma allegedly forcibly took ₹1,500 in cash from the complainant’s wallet and seized a debit card belonging to another friend. Using the card’s “tap and pay” feature, four consecutive transactions of ₹2,000 each were made on an ATM POS machine.
Accused Johnson Mascarenhas then allegedly threatened to kill the group if they approached the police. The defence argued that the victims had willingly availed themselves of services at “Wellness Spa”, a licensed establishment operating on the premises, and had paid ₹8,000 for those services. The defence further contended that if the accused had intended to commit dacoity, they would have withdrawn or swiped a larger amount, particularly since Dheerendra’s account had a remaining balance of ₹26,910. However, the court dismissed these arguments at the charge-framing stage. The court observed that the attachment panchanama dated September 20, 2020, pertaining to the Digital Video Recorder (DVR), revealed that the complainant’s vehicle entered the premises and was seen leaving shortly thereafter.
The court noted that, given the short duration of around 10 minutes, it was difficult to believe that the complainant and his friends could have availed themselves of spa services during that period.
