Goa beach murder case: Dowry harassment angle also being investigated, says police

The postmortem of Diksha Gangwar, whose body was found in the shallow waters at Cabo de Rama beach in south Goa, revealed that she was drowned, a senior forensic official at Margao District Hospital said.

Panaji: Police investigating the murder of a 27-year-old woman at a beach in Goa last week, allegedly by her husband, is not ruling out a dowry harassment angle, a senior officer said on Tuesday.

The postmortem of Diksha Gangwar, whose body was found in the shallow waters at Cabo de Rama beach in south Goa, revealed that she was drowned, a senior forensic official at Margao District Hospital told PTI.

Police on Saturday arrested Gangwar's husband Gaurav Katiyar, who was working as a manager at a five-star hotel in south Goa, in connection with the murder.

"The postmortem shows Diksha Gangwar was smothered to death in sandy waters. The postmortem also showed injury marks on her chest," the forensic department official said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Santosh Desai said various angles are being investigated.

"Nothing is ruled out and all probabilities are being probed," he said when asked whether dowry harassment, as alleged by the kin of the deceased, led to her murder.

Katiyar and his wife hailed from Lucknow and they had married just a year ago, police had said.

Police had initially said Katiyar might have killed Gangwar over his extramarital affair.

As per the police, the incident occurred 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 apparently to ensure whether his wife had really died, before raising alarm to create the entire drama, he added.