Two articles today in the Afternoon Dispatch and Courier …. with two articles, one would think that there is some demanding of answers happening. Apparently not.
I suggest you read the story of the murders of Keenan Santos and Reuben Fernandes as we know it first before this garbage confuses you.
Quoting from the first one:
On the day of the incident, Sentos and Fernandez along with five others, including three women, went to the bar to enjoy dinner while watching a cricket match on a giant screen. After a while, they came out of the restaurant and were standing near a paan shop. “One Jitendra Rana (25), who is a barber by profession and hails from Haryana, had reached the shop and asked Sentos to move aside. As Sentos refused to budge, a heated argument took place. Rana was accompanied by Sunil Bote (20) and Satish Dulgaj (35), who attacked the group with choppers.
Where are the 13 rent-a-goons that no one wants to talk about. The altercation is also now a result of hot tempers both ways rather than Rana attempting to molest a woman. So now, it seems Rana didn’t go for back up, 13 goons with sharp weapons didn’t arrive quickly, etc. Nice. Real smooth. AND FYI, the subject of your story is Santos, not Sentos.
…Kenin Sentos was killed and his friend Ruben Fernandez was injured after they were attacked by three persons following a fight outside Amboli Bar and Restaurant…
and
Following the incident, police searched the area for the accused, who were later traced. The three, who confessed to the crime, were subsequently arrested,” police said.
Very informative, except that it is FOUR. So which one is being set up to be overlooked apart from the 13 odd rent-a-goons?
Except that his colleague Kunal Chonkar did a different cover up. So he mentions in his article as:
…a drunken man deliberately dashed against the girls in their group, was roughly shoved off with a slap, and then returned with a gang armed with sickles, choppers, knives and staves from the neighbouring Valmiki Nagar.
That’s an ouch. This article takes care of the inconvenient questions around the MLA though. It describes how said MLA was present for the funeral from beginning to end, etc
There was a strong police presence on the spot as well, and local MLA Ashok Bhau Jadhav, (INC) who has been helping the family with police and hospital processes, was there as well, from the beginning to the end.
It has a section titled “Family commend Jadhav’s help” too (with more words than main story). If you remember, said Jadhav happens to be local MLA Ashok Bhau Jadhav, (INC) who has been the target of a lot of anger in those following this news for sponsoring the lawyer for the killers of the person whose funeral is being spoken about. This information has come directly from the family and friends of Reuben Fernandes, so it is highly unlikely that any of them were feeling particularly grateful – even if the information on the lawyers was wrong and they had been misled.
The article goes on to say:
Meanwhile, the worst kind of politics has entered the scenario, with the Congress MLA as the target. Several texts, mails and blogs have been circulated within social media circles, several of them having formed groups in support of Reuben and Keenan, quoting unknown sources accusing Ashok Jadhav of helping the accused as well, by providing legal help and financial assistance.
Hmm… so we are playing politics now. That doesn’t wash on this blog – zero affiliation. I suppose the lawyer news could be a plant. This should be verified by media if it is indeed true or false.
However, yesterday the Fernandes family came out and set the record straight. They defended Jadhav.saying, “Since the day of the incident, hehas been helping us. He also assisted during the recovery of the body from hospital and with the police This weas stated by Ronny Fernandes himself, standing beside Jadhav at the funeral.
Benjamin Fernandes made a post on the group for Keenan Santos categorically denying that this was said at all or that any family member spoke with the MLA (Ronny is Benjamin and Reuben’s father). Additionally, hereare the comments from friends and family. Read.
Speaking to ADC, Jadhav said, “I came to know about these texts and blogs through my daughter who also received one such text. I have filed a written complaint with the Bandra-Kurla Complex Cyber Crime cell about these messages accusing me. Instead of asking me whether I am helping the Fernandes family, the media must ask the family themselves for the truth.”
How neatly you sidestep the question, dear MLA. The question never was whether you are helping the Fernandes family – it was well publicized that you and an entire parade of politicians went and met them to offer help – which in itself is strange, seeing as how regular murders don’t get this kind of attention. The question was why was help offered to criminals – as quoted in the previous paragraph of same article. I notice (and I read the article several times) that this information about the lawyer, has been attributed to a political conspiracy, but never denied.
So what is really happening here?
Interestingly, a source from the station said that two of the accused belong to a political party and that their pictures had “graced” a Diwali hoarding near Amboli Naka. When this reporter went to have a look, however, he discovered that both hoardings had been hurriedly taken down. Some of Jadhav’s men had managed to grab an image on mobile phones and were keeping them for further action.
Sounds like the thugs didn’t belong to the Congress. Then, if the rumor was false, why not deny it flat out like “I am not paying for the lawyers of those criminals” and finish all doubt? Just asking. Besides, such a falsified PR article focusing on the MLA would be bizarre if there was no need.
Or is it about winning the vote bank over from another party by saving the criminals? Would that explain thesudden profusion of politicians in that area?
Whatever THAT was about, this burst of eloquence based on fiction being sold as news, definitely makes the whole thing look more shady.
If indeed this is not a deliberate cover up by the Afternoon Dispatch and Courier, then it is even more concerning how any news can be fed to a journalist to be printed in a newspaper.
Update: Since then, family and friends of Keenan and Reuben have appeared on Times Now with Arnab Goswami and thoroughly trashed these claims including claims of paying hospital bills on National TV.