Goa Russian rape: Accused still at large, consulate not informed

Panaji: Five days after a 25-year-old Russian national was allegedly raped by a beach resort owner in the beach village of Morjim, located in the chief minister's constituency of Mandrem, neither has the accused been arrested yet, nor has the Russian consulate been informed about the crime.

"As of current date we have not received either any claims from the mentioned victim or information from the Goan police with the person's name. Consulate General in Mumbai and Honorary Consulate in Goa are ready to provide this Russian national with any assistance within their competence," a spokesperson for the Russian consulate in Mumbai told IANS over email.

According to an FIR, the Russian national who had arrived in Goa on a tourist visa, had claimed that she had been raped by one James, owner of a beach resort in Morjim in the wee hours of Thursday (April 28).

The incident, according to her complaint, occurred in her hotel room. The complaint also states that the resort owner used a master key to gain access to her room and alleged rape her.

While senior police officials have refused to comment on the issue, despite requests from media persons, Russian consular officials, including honorary Russian consul in Goa Victor Albuquerque, claim they have not heard about the case formally from the police department, which is standard practice.

"We have only learnt about it from the media. We have not been informed about the case by the police at all, which is unfortunate," Albuquerque told IANS.

According to police sources the accused James is still at large and a lookout notice is being issued to track him down.

Morjim village in North Goa, located around 30 kms from Panaji is part of Goa chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar's electoral constituency of Mandrem and is a popular haunt for tourists from Russia.

On an average nearly 1.5 lakh Russian tourists visit the coastal state from October to March every year.