Delay in investigating Carol's disappearance: Top cop orders probe into Santacruz police

Pinky Misquitta alias Carol; Carol was killed allegedly by her boyfriend Zico Misquitta and Zico’s accomplice in the murder Kumar Babu Devendran

Mumbai's Commissioner of Police (CP) Hemant Nagrale has ordered an enquiry into Santacruz police's alleged botched-up investigation of a missing person complaint, after the matter was highlighted by mid-day. The case pertains to Vile Parle resident Pinky Misquitta, alias Carol, whose decomposed body was found in Palghar 10 days after she went missing. On Saturday, a front-page report in this paper quoted her mother who alleged that the officers acted only two days after the complaint was made.

Joint CP (Law and Order) Vishwas Nangre-Patil told mid-day, "We have initiated a probe based on your report published on Saturday. I will have to check its status."
He added, "On a piece of paper with the (mid-day) newspaper cutting, the CP wrote, ‘check who has done this… enquire and report', and it was sent to additional CP, West region. The zonal DCP is conducting the enquiry."

Missing from Jan 24

Carol's mother Catherine Misquitta and social activist Anita Shetty have alleged that Santacruz police kept turning them away for the first 48 hours since she went missing on January 24. They were busy launching the Nirbhaya helpline number, they said, adding that they registered a missing person complaint only on January 26.

Carol's mother Catherine (left) along with her sister Victoria Pereira

"They also told us that they are occupied in the preparation for a blood donation camp and the flag hoisting programme on Republic Day," said Shetty.

Catherine had pleaded with Santacruz police to question Carol's boyfriend Zico Misquitta about her whereabouts. Zico was called to the police station, but was let go 10 minutes later, after he told officers that he broke up with Carol a fortnight ago. "Her mother kept saying that their relationship was not over, and that she had heard Carol candidly talking to Zico on the phone the day she went missing," Shetty said.

"Besides, we also showed police Zico's banking transaction. He had sent R320 to Carol on January 24, the night she went missing. Police instead scolded us and said, ‘your daughter has many male friends, why are you only naming Zico'," she recalled.

It was the Palghar police that found the body on February 3, and arrested Zico and his alleged accomplice Kumar Babu Devendran.

"Whenever we visited Santacruz police station, we would get only one response: ‘she will come back'. But they did nothing to track her mobile phone location to find out her whereabouts," Shetty said. "They swung into action only after I messaged senior police officers. Senior Inspector D Ganore called us to know about the matter, and the so-called investigating officer (IO) too. Ganore enquired about Carol's call detail record (CDR), and IO said he is yet to get it."

"When I told Ganore that eight precious days have passed, but there is still no development in the investigation, he replied: ‘people return home even after 15 days'," said Shetty.

‘We made the arrest'

It was the Crime Branch officers who retrieved the CDR and located her last location in Palghar, and they also called Zico for questioning, Shetty said.

A senior officer from Palghar police said, "It is true that Zico was being questioned by Crime Branch in Bandra, but we arrested him. Had they investigated the missing person complaint properly, it would have been solved in a few hours."

The senior Palghar police officer said, "Crime Branch officers learnt about the murder only after we approached them with the details of decomposed body and the details of her clothing. It is not that they had cracked the case."

‘Zico had joined search'

In a bid to showcase his innocence in the sudden disappearance of Carol, Zico had joined family to trace her, said Shetty.

"Carol's grandmother, who lives in Kurla, is ailing. He [Zico] visited Kurla twice with Carol's maternal uncle to look for her. He also told us that he is open to assist police if they call him for questioning. We did not know then that he had already killed Carol," Shetty added.

Sources said after killing his girlfriend, Zico returned to Vile Parle at 6.30am and slept.

Requesting anonymity, a senior IPS officer of Mumbai police said, "During our investigation, we learnt that Carol was set to join a call centre on February 16. Also, she called her mother on January 24 night, saying she will return. So, as an investigating officer what will you do? Naturally, one will assume that she will return."

"In a missing complaint, how will an investigator know that the boyfriend has killed her until and unless we get the CDR or other details? Our investigations were underway when Palghar police came and took his (Zico) custody," said the officer.

He added, "All the allegations made by her (Carol's) family are being cross verified. We are also checking why there was an unusual delay in getting the CDR."

Zonal DCP Manjunath Shinge said, "We will verify all the facts and we will take appropriate action if there are any lapses."