Thai man turns himself in for murder of Indian tourist at Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan Island
Just found that bit of information via the Google News Alert system and thought it’s worth posting here. The original article was published on the Bangkok Post website 30th March 2008 but can no longer be found online as they always remove their content pretty quick. So Google cache is our best friend 😉
A Thai man suspected of killing an Indian tourist during a full moon party on Koh Phangan in Surat Thani turned himself in to police yesterday. Thani Rakkapao, 24, a Surat Thani native, confessed to stabbing to death Chetan Dadhwal, 24, on March 22, police said.
According to police, Mr Thani said that about 2am that morning he was partying along with several other people when a fight broke out. He said a man smashed a beer bottle in his face and tried to stab him with the broken bottle.
He stabbed the person with his knife and left the scene, police reported Mr Thani as saying.
The suspect turned himself in after learning that the man he had stabbed was an Indian tourist, police said, adding that they had charged Mr Thani with unintentional murder.
Meanwhile, in Phuket, Deputy Governor Worapot Ratthasima said authorities planned to improve safety on the island by installing more than 200 surveillance cameras by the end of the year.
Phuket island has 48 surveillance cameras in public spots.
Phuket Tourism police inspector Pol Maj Sathaporn Sanguansuk said his team would step up security over the upcoming Songkran festival with support from both local and international volunteers and local administrative bodies.
How can someone get charged for an unintentional murder….Chetan was stabbed 4 times….1 to the neck 1 close to his heart 1 to his left hip and 1 to his back!!!! How insulting it is to his family and friends is the police system to let a murder in any shape or form go so easy…..4 times that is an intention to kill!!! How do we know its the right person that did it???? A fight didnt break out those thai guys were out to kill someone that night….there was no provokation just intent to kill!!! Makes me sick!! And what about the other 5 guys who were with him??? No mention of them??? Arent they as guilty???? Life imprisonment is the murder penalty….20-30 years is for unintentional….absolute rubish!!!!Will be in touch.
Concerned.
Forget this island, you are here only a living moneybag. There are many other beautiful places, far away of this fu…. island
yep … i found this ‘unintentional’ murder charge also very suspicious! Unforgetable thailand!!!
I know what you mean…the funny thing about this is that they knew when the eye witnesses were leaving the country and how convenient is it that someone confessed after they had left….by the way the guy killed was a close friend of mine.
why dont you just all fuck off to where you come from ?
Also about the comment of my mate smashing a bottle ang trying to stab him….total BS!!! My mate is a pacifist….his night started at 12am and was stabbed 3hrs later….
Funny guy…to say that…imagine what the south islands of Thailand would be without the tourism….yeah probably a little quieter with no funds….too late buddy. dont say shit you dont know anything about….if your a tourist saying this fuck you if it was a friend of mine i would be concerned…..if it was a friend of yours you would do the same…get a clue dude and dont post meaningless comments. If your from thailand then hey man Thailand is a great place lived and trained here for 2 years now…met and know some great thai friends…but hey each to thier own. If you want to talk to me im still in Thailand write to me and i would gladly meet you for a disscussion…thailand is cheap to travel so its no problem…but if your a tourist and your writing like this….i would like to meet you….
I think the authorities are alos involved, they haves just killed a tourist and are trying to cover up the case. Thailand sucks…. the people live on the earning of their women folk…All bastards….
For sure the cops are involved….as to the corruption thats also not too far off…..i was with a mate of mine at a full moon part last year…..he brought some powder from one of the random local Thais guys walking up an down the beach…..10 mins later cops made a beeline for him in amongst hundreds of people an took him to the cells even though the item wasnt with him….the asking price as $140,000 baht….a stupid amount for a drug realise…..thats high money anywhere in the world….we were then able to talk the “Police chief” to lower the price to $60,000 baht which is what we thought we could get……we ended up only scraping $40,000 baht that confirmed if thats all we could get then said give me the money and realesed m mate……how could you go fron 140k to 40k….i mean its not a mrket where you can bargin item prices down.
Accusations that the police are involved in this are ridiculous yes it does appear a deal has been done but without this deal this man may never have been brought to justice! In the western world the area would be sealed off and scoured for forensic evidence wouldnt suprise me if there is no forensic evidence at all! So it appears they did a deal for him to turn himself in for unintentional murder! I know the victims friends are using this site and my heart goes out to you this was a cruel and senseless killing, please dont take my comments the wrong way just giving the opinion of an outsider! It is said Chetan held a british passport if this had happened here the murderer would serve about 15 years in a holiday camp like prison(compared to thailand)and only 1 person(who actually stabbed him)would be charged with murder and the rest for fighting beleive me this man will pay dearly with 20/30 years in a thai prison! I know this is little conselation in this difficult time! Does anyone know what actually happened was chetan trying to break up a fight? D uk
Chetan was a friend of mine…i was there but not in the same place…..from what my other friends told me (who were in the same bar…drop in) there was no provocation….all of a sudden they started bottling 2 of our friends while one was in the bathroom…then one of our friends turn around to see Chetan surrounded by 5-6 Thai guys bottling him….then all of a sudden he just slips down back against the wall….then gets carried out by 2 farangs the whole thing happened in a matter of minutes….there was no arguing just people out to do bad.
so, again drop in bar, right?
for many years it is very well known by koh phangan residents that these young thai-guys working there make their poor life fullfilling in beeing kind of a fight-club.
there was the same situation last year, they are just waiting to show their >fight skills< at every harmless situation. an israeli tourist was killed, and a few hours later, all these guys where released from police. the owner, lek, gave his comment like he does not care what his workers are doing in front of his bar, due to the victim died not inside! i know the owner of the bar, he meanwhile owns such a fortune that he is almost untouchable on this island. and he keeps his hands over these guys, well knowing that such a reputation is quite helpfull in that big mafia-business. so, what is the solution? as long as all these young tourists are still bringing loads of money to locations like drop-in bar, the next killing will come soon. asking one of these thai-guys for a bit more ice in the drink might be enough! spreading the information to boycott this bar won´t work on a tourist place. solutions from the authorities? forget that. hard to understand for a pacifist like i am, but the only solution would be to kill these guys one after another, same like they do now with tourists. maybee they get the wrong guy once, and there are some more tough friends of him around. but until this happens, these thai-fighters can do what ever they want!
Lived on KP for 3 months and had to leave bc when I went home for my best friends funeral and my girlfriend had to cover my teaching hours at the high school, the director offered her money for sex and then knocked on her door after midnight for 15 minutes. People that live there are generally cool, but some of the higher ups are a bunch of pieces of shit. There is no morality there, and for those that say there are, show me. F KP and the cops that run that fucking place
RIP Chetan..will mis u 4eva..!!
RIP Chetan..will miss u 4eva…!!!
Chetan wz a indian citizen with New Zealand residency…not a british passport holder…
I had an awful experience with Drop In in July this year… spent the night drinking in an all girl group at the entrance of Drop In before heading back to my hotel at 6am. Awoken around 6:30am to see one of the staff members trying to break into my room (where i was sleeping alone) as quietly as he could… took me an hour of screaming and threatening to call the police before he finally jumped on his bike and ran off… the whole time i was holding my window and door closed as tight as i could, with him continuing to punch the door and proceeded to smash my window.
Owners of Drop In didn’t seem to even know what time the guy was due at work. He was still working a week later when i left the island… bad times :(:(
Chetan Dadhwal was a very loving person, was my clasmate back at school, very humble, shy and attractive personality. Sad I learnt only today from his relative that he is no more. I’ve been to Thailand few times and yes it is one of the whore mongers place… tourists needs to be always careful of everything from their belongings to their lives. Such a beautiful life is wasted in such a shameful way.