Death in Goa: 245 foreigners perish in 12 years

RTI reply accessed by local activist in support of relatives of the deceased throws up shocking figures, majority of the deaths classified as ‘natural’ in police records

The sun, sand and rocking nightlife of the famed beaches of Goa hide a dark underbelly: the iconic holiday destination has claimed the lives of roughly 20 foreigners every year in the last decade or so.

The sun, sand and rocking nightlife of the famed beaches of Goa hide a dark underbelly: The holiday destination has claimed the lives of roughly 20 foreigners every year in the last decade or so.

The rape and murder of 28-year-old Irish woman Danielle McLaughlin in Canacona in March this year was only the latest in a long list of crimes against foreigners in the coastal state.

According to an RTI reply accessed by a local activist in support of relatives of the deceased, a shocking 245 foreigners have died in Goa in the last 12 years.

Police moved swiftly in the Danielle case and arrested Vikas Bhagat, a tour guide she was last seen with. While Danielle’s family may have got a partial closure, several relatives of foreigners who died “unnatural” deaths allege their cases were shoddily rubbed off by the Indian criminaljustice system.

The RTI reply that details the cause, time and place of death at four coastal police stations mostly frequented by foreigners, has classified a majority of these deaths as “natural”. Relatives of the deceased also point to 39 cases where the cause of death is listed as “unknown”.

What should worry the state that receives more than five lakh tourists every year is that more and more questions are being raised over the safety of foreigners. In at least half a dozen cases that were reinvestigated owing to relatives’ pressure, the “natural” deaths turned out to be pre-meditated murders.

Take the death of 22-year-old Finnish youth Felix Dahl. The Canacona police primary investigation said he died due to an accidental fall, but a second autopsy by the family in Finland revealed fatal injuries to his skull from a high impact weapon causing death. The case was put up before the Canacona magistrate who ordered an FIR to be registered, two years after his death. Till date, no arrests have been made.

“Felix’s body was found on gravel around 200 metres away from a restaurant where he was last spotted. All the facts put up by the police were imaginary,” says his mother Minna Pirohnen.

The mother says she suspected murder after she found out that Felix was last spotted with a man who was a close friend of Vikas Bhagat, the accused in the Danielle rape and murder case. “I do feel the police are always trying to cover these cases out of fear that it will damage the reputation of Goa,” says Pirohnen.

In the infamous Scarlett Keeling case of 2008, the police had initially dubbed it as death due to drowning and drug overdose. The case was transferred to the CBI and rape and murder charges added only after the issue snowballed into a global outrage.

A similar case is that of Denyse Sweeney, a charity worker who was found unconscious at a night club in Vagator and died during treatment on April 16, 2010. The medical report stated the likely cause as drug overdose. After intense pressure from the British family, Anjuna police re-opened the case in 2012 and transferred it to CBI for a murder probe.

Recently, a meeting was held in Cheltenham, Glouchestershire, by the relatives of Stephen Benett who died in Goa in 2006 to discuss the dangers foreigners face there. It was attended by the sister and mother of Felix Dahl. Fiona Mackeown, mother of Scarlett Keeling, Amanda Benett whose brother Stephen died in 2006 and Maureen Sweeney, sister of Denyse Sweeney, also attended this meet.

Determined to get justice, the family members have taken their cause to social media – they are networking through Facebook pages like ‘Justice for Felix Dahl’ and ‘Justice for Danielle McLaughlin’. These pages give details of each incident, progress in the case and even crowd-fund expenses for the legal battle. Talks are also on to file a joint petition seeking transfer of the cases to CBI. As questions are raised over callous probes, state police officials say they can only proceed as per the law.