One British
national said he might know her and was brought to the crime spot, but the
scratch marks on face made difficult to identify body, police told.
The British
national then recalled some friends and began to search photograph on facebook,
and finally after a few attempts zeroed in on her profile.
A tattoo
of three circles around deceased girl’s right waist helped identify her. The police
took a fresh photograph from her profile and went to the beach front. The DIG
Goa, Vimal Gupta, “The accused statement cannot be relied, unless every minute
of evidence from the crime scene let it be inspected scientifically. We want
him behind bar.”
The
Irish girl had come to India in 2016 and returned this year on February 23. Having
halt in Arambol for a few days she visited South Goa with an Australian friend
on March 12.
Danielle
went alone to Palolem, about three miles south of Festival Valley, at around
1pm on March 13.
She was seen at a party on the beach in the
Canacona area on that night.
A waiter told Police she was seen with a local man at 9.30pm and the pair had got into an argument with a bar keeper who had sold them two bottles of beer. They later left on his scooter. Then woman from another locality confirmed it. A sack owner calls police and finally someone mentioned the name Vickat Bhagat, the local man.
CCTV of her
final tragic moments has
since emerged, showing her walking with a man in grainy footage; Just hours
later her brutalised body was found by a farmer four miles away
near Deobag Beach.
Police
have arrested and detained a man named as Vikat
Bhagat, 22, who they say has confessed to murdering her.
Danielle's heartbroken mother Andrea Brannigan has paid tribute
to her daughter, saying she will be “sadly missed”.
Vikat
Bhagat, 22, has been arrested and remanded
in custody while investigations continue.
Bhagat, nicknamed Wicket, confessed to killing the
backpacker, but denied raping her, police deputy superintendent Sammy Tavares
said.
Indian police identified Danielle McLoughlin's killer
from blood found on his clothes and scooter, according to their report.
Reports now say Bhagat confessed to her murder and
admitted he sexually assaulted her before attempting to disfigure her with a
beer bottle.
Her badly beaten body was found in a pool of blood by
a farmer at Deobag Beach, Goa, with extensive injuries to her face and head.
Known
criminal Bhagat was arrested after his Activa scooter and clothes were found
covered in red stains at his home in Canacona.
The cases
of thefts, robbery, house break-ins and drug peddling against Bhagat are in
trial court. “With such a criminal background, his confession cannot be seen as
a complete probe,” said Gupta.
McLoughlin's blood-stained clothes were also found in
a backpack dumped in a field close to the house.
Bhagat had also sustained injuries consistent with
being scratched by nails.
He was taken to the General Medical Centre at Bambolim
before being taken into custody.
In a plain clothe policeman was on watching to confirm
Bhagat’s presence at his house in Bhagatwada Canacona. Once policeman confirmed
Bhagat's presence in home, the signal was passed to other policemen.
The police barged into his home and nabbed him while he was
sleeping. He was astounded seeing this raid. The witness versions have matched
with the narrative what Bhagat told to the police.
During the interrogation Bhagat has confessed that when he
tried to impose himself on her in an isolated spot off the highway leading to
Agonda, she tried to escape.
The police have found injury marks on Bhagat’s thigh. The victim’s
cloths and his bike have now been ceased.
