Shireen Mody, an artist, originally from South Mumbai, and an OCI card holder, who settled in Goa thirty years ago, died on 6^th October, 2019, following an assault, allegedly, by her gardener, Praphul Jana, at her bungalow-cum-studio, ‘Saffron Wiehl’, according to the police. The 65-year-old attacker from Assam, Jana, was living at Mody’s home since three years, and seems to have collapsed and suffered serious injuries, leading to his death, while escaping, post the assault.

CCTV footage showing Jana escaping after hitting Mody has been recovered by the police. Preliminary investigation by the police suggests that Jana held a grudge against Mody, and when she was leaving for a brunch on the 6^th mid-morning, he allegedly asked her to meet him at a shed behind her home at Arpora Vegas Vaddo in Anjuna Police Station area. As per Senior Police Inspector, Navlesh Dessai, an altercation is believed to have taken place between Mody and Jana, during which Jana struck her with an iron rod on the head, causing her to die on the spot. Having rented out a few rooms, there were other guests in the house and within a very short while, they were able to find her as they knew she had been called to the shed. Mody was declared brought dead at the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) near Panaji, while Prafulla was taken to a district hospital in Mapusa, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Jana is believed to have fled by jumping a fence, though he collapsed at a spot close to home. According to IGP, Jaspal Singh, a wounded Jana asked a passerby (eye-witness) to go and check on Mody, saying, “Take care of her. I will be ok,” – words that have been included by the police as the last statement from Jana. Singh added, “It’s a very unfortunate incident. We will be filing charges, but here the judgment might not reach trial like other cases, as both are dead. In this case we are looking at an Abatement Chargesheet.”

SP, North Goa – Utkrisht Prasoon, said, “We have established that when Jana escaped, he did not have any injury on him. He seems to have got wounded at the spot where he collapsed after what seems like a fit. We have asked for the postmortem report to ascertain the cause of his death.”