http://www.navhindtimes.com/stories.php?part=news&Story_ID=031727
Mapusa plunges into grief with tragic death of 3 youth NT News Service Mapusa Mar 16: Mapusa was plunged in grief today with the tragic death of three youth, including the former BJP Mapusa youth wing president, Prasad Dhargalkar and a fourth youth still missing. Dhargalkar (38), popularly known in Mapusa as "Pacha," was riding a Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle when he was crushed between a bus and truck at a village called Tershem, between Dodamarg and Tillari today morning. He is learnt to have died on the spot. He had gone to search for three Mapusa youth who went missing on Wednesday afternoon, on Holi day. Two were his immediate neighbours and the third youth, Nikhil Pawaskar (23) was from nearby Ansabhatt area of Mapusa. The lifeless bodies of two of the youth, Pawaskar and Santosh Dicholkar (28) were fished out today from a small river flowing towards Chapora at a village called Dhumashem near Menkurem in Bicholim taluka. The third youth, Viraj Kauthankar is missing. The three bachelors had left Mapusa around 12.30 p.m. on a single motorcycle on Holi day, reportedly to swim in the river, at a location so remote, even residents of Dumashem village are surprised. But a Mapusa resident who visited the site today said one of the boys worked on a crusher on the Dumashem hill and knew the place well. When they did not return yesterday, their family members filed a police complaint at Mapusa yesterday afternoon. But by then, villagers of Dumashem had noticed the motorcycle and clothes lying untouched on the riverbank and informed the Bicholim police. Co-ordination between Mapusa and Bicholim police and positive identification of the motorcycle by family members prompted the Bicholim Fire Brigade to conduct a search operation in the river late yesterday evening. It was unsuccessful. With no trace of his neighbours, Dhargalkar - a father of an 8-year old son and a sibling to six - volunteered to join the search himself today morning. He left his house, opposite the Rashtrolli temple (near the Laximinarayan temple) at Feira Baixa around 9 a.m. He met his tragic end around 11 a.m. Meanwhile in Dumashem, two of the bodies were seen floating in the river today. The Bicholim Fire Brigade with the help of villages used a canoe to tow the bodies ashore. The bodies were then taken and handed to the Bicholim police, who sent them for post-mortem to the Goa Medical College, Bambolim. Women wailed and men from the family wept as a huge crowd gathered today in the narrow Rashtrolli temple lane, where the houses of Dhargalkar and two of the youth are located. The Mapusa MLA, Mr Francis D'Souza, who came to console the family, expressed grief at the death of his party colleague and the other boys. The Tivim BJP MLA, Mr Sadanand Shet Tanavade, Mandrem BJP MLA, Mr Laximikant Parsenkar, BJP general secretary, Mr Satish Dhond, BJP vice president, Mr Datta Kholkar, party workers and most Mapusa councillors were prominently seen among the crowd. Dhargalkar was cremated today evening. -- TUMCHER AXIRVAD ASSUM; DEV BOREM KORUM. Gabe Menezes. London, England
