‘I have no confidence in police’

Paul Bennett terms his meeting with the DGP as  disappointing; he had his concerns regarding the case

Paul Bennett, brother of 40-year-old Stephen Bennett, the British national who was allegedly murdered by villagers of the Malsai village in Roha taluka in Raigad on December 10 last year, met Director General of Police PS Pasricha on Wednesday to find out the progress in the case.

“I had some concerns regarding the case and wanted to share them with the DGP,” Paul said after his 15-minute meeting with Pasricha at the state police headquarters in Colaba. He termed his meeting with the DGP as ‘disappointing’, but he refused to elaborate.

“I have absolutely no confidence in the police of this country,” Bennett said. Paul said the police’s claim that Stephen was murdered after he allegedly misbehaved with a woman was wrong and it has affected Stephen’s image back home in London and given him a bad name.

When asked if he had any evidence or information to prove that the police’s claim is false, he refused to comment on it. “I have spoken to the DGP about it and wouldn’t want to talk about it at this moment,” Bennett said.

Meanwhile, Pasricha said, “The case is charge-sheeted and in the court of law. It would be inappropriate to comment on it right now because the matter is subjudice.”

It may be recalled that on the morning of December 10 last year, Stephen Bennett’s body was found hanging to a tree in Malsai village in the Roha taluka in the Raigad district, 120 km from Mumbai. According to the police, local villagers lynched Stephen for his alleged advances towards a woman. Stephen, a resident of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire in the UK, was on a tourist visa to India and had alighted at Roha from a Mumbai-bound train on December 7.

The local police have arrested six people in the case. The narco-analysis of one of the accused, he has confessed to having killed Bennett.