Goa hotel manager's wife died in shallow sand waters, such deaths are cases of homicide: Official

Panaji: The death of a 27-year-old woman in Goa, for which her husband has been arrested, was due to drowning in the shallow sand waters, which are cases of homicide and not suicide or accident, a forensic department official on Sunday said citing initial probe into the case.

Gaurav Katiyar (29), the manager of a restaurant at a luxury hotel in South Goa, was arrested on Saturday and charged with murder for allegedly drowning his wife Diksha Gangwar on Friday at the Cabo de Rama beach, police said.

The accused tried to pass off his wife's death as an accident after committing the crime, but a video shot by a man exposed his claim.

The state forensic department official, attached to the South Goa District Hospital, told PTI that the initial investigation has revealed the woman died in the "shallow sand waters".

Most of the times, deaths due to drowning in the shallow sand waters are cases of murder as no one can die in such low depth waters due to drowning, unless forced to, he said.

The official said the deaths in the shallow sand waters are cases of "homicide and not suicide or accident".

The postmortem on the woman's body would be conducted on Monday, the official said.

He said the medical examination of the accused conducted on Saturday showed injury marks due to scratching on his chest.

"There are marks on the chest, usually when there is a scuffle. There is a possibility that the deceased tried to save her and in the process scratched the chest of the accused," he said.

Prima facie, Katiyar killed Gangwar, whom he married a year ago, over his extramarital affair, an official earlier said adding that injury marks were found on the body.

Meanwhile, a Judicial Magistrate First Class at Margao remanded the accused to police custody for five days.

Katiyar was working as the manager of a restaurant in a five-star hotel in South Goa. He and his wife hailed from Lucknow.

The Cuncolim police have registered a case on charges of murder and destruction of evidence against Katiyar, a senior police official said.

"We want to gather more evidence against the accused," he said.

The police said the initial investigation revealed the accused killed his wife over his own extramarital affair.

"But we need to get all the information together so that a strong chargesheet can be filed against the accused," the official said.

As per the police, the incident took place at around 3.45 pm on Friday after the accused took his wife for a stroll on the beach, located not far from his workplace.

He took her to a rocky area of the beach and allegedly drowned her in the sea, an official said on Saturday.

After committing the crime, Katiyar created commotion and tried to pass it off as an accident, he said.

However, a video clip shot by a local showed Katiyar coming out of the beach and returning again apparently to ensure whether his wife had really died, before raising alarm to create the entire drama, he added.