Found dead 17 mths ago, priest’s body to be finally buried
PANAJI: Days before his body was spotted floating in Goa’s Mandovi river on November 5, 2015, ‘Father’ Bismarque Dias circulated a video naming builders, real estate agents and politicians, and said they should be held responsible if he died suddenly.
This is what the family and friends of the former Goan Catholic priest and activist are clutching on to, refusing to bury his body because they suspect he was murdered.
His body has been lying in the morgue at Goa Medical College for nearly 17 months. On Monday, Goa human rights commission directed Dias’s remains be formally laid to rest, but his backers are resisting the move.
Differences with the church over sale of land to a firm had seen Dias being disrobed, but he remains ‘Father’ for many.
“Father Bismarque Dias knew his life was under threat. We were fighting several cases against the land mafia and builders. The way he used to criticise the church also earned him enemies,” said Sudeep Dalvi, a close aide of Dias and also a petitioner seeking an inquiry. A relative of Dias said, “Why is the government so worried about the body? Where was this concern when police beat up his supporters seeking a probe into his murder?”
Dias’s fight had found expression in music. His friend, composer Jackson Dias, said, “I used to write and compose songs, which his group — Musical Warriors — would sing to draw people’s attention to environment, land grabbing and the rights of villagers. The issue is not about burial, it is about giving him justice.” The then SP (North Goa), Umesh Gaonkar, under whom the case was investigated, said it was a clear case of accidental death.
“Whatever the police had to say is well represented in the documents which are being put in the court. As the matter is before the court, I prefer not to say anything,” said Gaonkar. The police are going by the version of two boys who went swimming with Dias that night and insist he drowned as he was under the influence of alcohol.People in Dias’s hometown, St Estevam, about 25km from Panaji, dismiss such claims as smear campaign. St Estevam is an island village in Cumbharjua constituency from where Dias had contested the 2012 assembly elections as an independent candidate.