Margao: The district court in South Goa’s Margao on Monday sentenced 31-year-old Vikat Bhagat to life imprisonment after being found guilty of raping and murdering a foreign tourist at Palolem beach in March 2017.
In her order, Judge Kshama Joshi also sentenced Bhagat to three years imprisonment for destruction of evidence in the rape-murder case of an Irish backpacker.
The sentences will run concurrently.
“The accused is ordered to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay fine of ₹25,000 each for the offences punishable under section 302 and 376 IPC and imprisonment for a period of 3 years for the offence punishable under section 201 IPC and fine of ₹10,000 in default to undergo imprisonment for one year. The sentence of imprisonment for life shall run concurrently,” Joshi said in her order.
“The family is relieved that there is a closure… that justice has been done. It was a long trial,” said Advocate Vikram Varma, who was representing the Irish woman’s family.
Bhagat was last seen on March 13, 2017, the eve of Holi, at Palolem where the woman was staying with an Australian friend to celebrate the festival of colours. The next morning, her unclothed body was found in a pool of blood at an isolated location away from the beach.
According to the post-mortem report, the 28-year-old victim died due to brain haemorrhage and constriction of the neck, and was raped before being killed.
Bhagat was arrested within hours of the woman’s body being found.
Though he pleaded not guilty to the charges, video footage from a resort in Palolem and testimony from eyewitnesses established that he and few other young men were with her.
Police, however, ruled out the possibility of multiple assailants.
