Goa serial killings: Two arrested from Mumbai

In a major breakthrough in the serial killings case, the Goa Police arrested two persons who fled to Mumbai for allegedly murdering a 16-year-old girl and later burning her body.

Chandrakant Talwar (35) and Sairan Rodrigues (20) were arrested for killing Evita Rodrigues, whose body was found at Verna village in a charred condition.

"Two Goans arrested in Mumbai have confessed to killing the girl and burning her. We are not ruling out their hand in other killings, which were done in a similar style," Deputy IGP Ravindra Yadav told reporters.

His statement came moments after Home Minister Ravi Naik claimed these incidents might be handiwork of people from outside the state.

"These incidents should not be looked upon as a referendum on state's security. There is every possibility that someone from outside the state might have done the crime," Naik said. Police, since Monday, have found 10 bodies, of which eight were murders, and among them three were killed and burnt.

The fourth girl was found with her head smashed with a stone in the outskirts of Panaji. All these bodies were found around Panaji city within a radius of 30 km. Yadav said both the accused, who were earlier involved in robbery, were arrested in Mumbai this morning and were being brought to Goa.

"I cannot comment anything at this moment because they are yet to be interrogated," he said.

The Goa police had formed two special investigation teams (SITs) and also had taken the help of Crime Branch to solve the mystery. Police had yesterday arrested four people for killing a family of four and later dumping them in a creek.