Daijiworld Media Network - Beltangady (GA)
Beltangady, Mar 19: Mystery surrounding the death of Spanish researcher Alberto Belil has been solved with the accused confessing that they had murdered the former 8 months ago. They have revealed that they smashed Alberto with stones to death in the deep forest of Kadirudyavara.
The accused have been identified with Prasad Naik (26), Taranath Naik (24), Anand Naik (24) and Shekhar Naik (29). They all are members of one family. They were arrested as soon as the Alberto's death was confirmed a few days ago.
They have told the police that they murdered Alberto with the intention of robbing-off money from him. However, they could get only a few rupees from him as he was operating through ATM here. But they manage to get some of his valuables such as mobile, laptop etc.
All the four are agriculturist by profession. However, they also used to rob-off tourists who used come for trekking in the area. They were also working as guides to tourists. They did the same with Alberto. They made friendship with him and helped him in his research in various works. Since he was completely new not only to the place but even to the country and did not local language, he had to depend on these 4 for his works. One of the accused is a graduate and was able to converse in English.
Alberto used to bring eatables and other things to his new friends whenever he went to the town. This had given an impression to the locals that he had a lot of money with him. Accordingly they decided to rob him off too. He had been to the town 3 days before his murder. So they asked him to give them money. But he said no. Moreover, he did not have much money with him.
At this point one of them hit him with a stone. Immediately others joined him and smashed him with stones. They hit his head against a tree and killed him. Later they hung him from a tree and went home as if nothing had happened. Alberto's mobile phone was with one of the accused and he was using it after throwing away the original SIM card.
They might have thought that the death of Alberto would go un-noticed since hardly anyone knew about his whereabouts. Moreover, his family back home did not know the name of the place where he was living. But he had told his friend that he was living with Tulu-speaking people which proved very decisive in tracking his whereabouts and thereafter police did a commendable job in solving the mystery.
Earlier Report: