Gardener kills Goa artist, dies while fleeing

A 65-year-old Goabased artist was on Sunday killed by her gardener, who later died at a hospital after sustaining injuries while fleeing the crime scene, police said, causing shock in the beach town that has come to be identified as a destination for people looking to give up the big-city life.

Shireen Mody, a visual artist originally from south Mumbai, had lived and worked in Goa for over three decades. A Parsi by birth, she was born and brought up in Mumbai, but made Goa her home after giving up her job in the advertising industry in London.

The Goa Police said on Sunday their investigations showed there was a scuffle between Mody and the gardener – neighbours said they would quarrel frequently – during which he attacked the 65-year-old with an iron rod.

Praful Jana, also 65, later tried to scale a wall to flee the spot but fell and suffered a head injury, the police said. Jana, a native of Assam, was taken to a hospital where he was declared dead, they added. Mody, who had set up her studio in Arpora, a village located next to the Calangute beach and about 15km from the state capital Panaji, died at the Goa Medical College and Hospital.

“There was a fight between the two,” police inspector Navlesh Dessai said, adding that Mody was attacked with an iron rod. North Goa superintendent of police of Utkrisht Prasoon said: “An eyewitness has told us that Jana fell while scaling the wall of the house and got head injuries. We are investigating the cause of his death, which could be known once the postmortem report comes.”

Mody’s neighbours told the police that she “was struck several times” during the attack at around 11.30am on Sunday. A person claiming to have witnessed the incident said that Jana asked Mody to meet him in a shed in her garden in the morning. A CCTV footage from outside the residence showed him assaulting Mody, the witness was quoted by the police as saying.

The police said there would be frequent arguments between Mody and her gardener over the upkeep of the garden located in the studio. They said Jana resided in an outhouse on the premises. While Mody was found dead at her residence, the gardener’s body was picked from a lane outside the property.

“For now, we have an eyewitness who saw a bleeding Jana trying to run. He told the witness ‘take care of her, I will be okay’ as he pointed toward the house. We are recording that as the last statement from Jana,” Jaspal Singh, an investigator, said.

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