GOA — A man from Russia was nabbed in Goa after the body of his accused live-in partner was found in a hired room in the north of the coastal state. Police investigations have revealed a disturbing double murder case that may involve a third killing, officials said.
A live-in partner was found dead in Arambol
Aleksei Leonov, 37, a Russian citizen, was arrested early Friday morning in connection with the death of 37-year-old Elena Kasthanova. Her body was found by her owner late Thursday night in a rented apartment in Arambol.
Kasthanova was found with her throat cut and her arms tied behind her back, which is a sign of a brutal attack, according to the police. A short time before the owner found her body, neighbours said they heard screams. Leonov was caught after he jumped from the first floor of the building to try to get away.
At first, the cops said that the event was a case of an attack and unlawful detention that ended in murder. Leonov and Kasthanova are thought to have been living together as a live-in couple at the time.
In Morjim, a second victim was found
Police say that while Leonov was being questioned, he took them to another body in Morjim village and identified the second victim as Elena Vaneeva, who was also 37 years old and from Russia. Vaneeva had been renting a separate room and living with a friend of Kasthanova’s. Investigators think she was killed a few days before she was found dead in similar violent conditions.
Leonov is being charged with two different counts of murder for the deaths of the two women. Post-mortem exams are being done to find out the exact time and cause of death. At this point, it’s still not clear what the motivations were, and police are still gathering proof.
A confession leads to an investigation into more killings
Leonov is said to have told police that the two deaths might not have been his only crimes while he was being questioned. This made the case more disturbing. He said he had something to do with the death of a 40-year-old woman from Assam and said he might have drugged her before she died.
Police have said that they are checking to see if this claim is related to an earlier “unnatural death” case in the area. Investigators said that Leonov’s comments have been contradictory at times, and they are being careful with these new claims while they gather more proof to back them up.
It was also suggested by the authorities that Leonov might have been high during some parts of the questioning, which could have made it harder to trust what he said. It is still being checked to see if he was involved in other cases.
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Background and What the Police Did
Leonov is a professional fire artist, and he is said to have been living in India since 2023. Kasthanova moved to Goa at the end of last year and worked and lived there until she died. Vaneeva had just arrived not long ago and was also friends with Leonov and Kasthanova.
After Leonov was arrested, a judge told the police to keep him in prison for 14 days while the probe goes on. Authorities are also looking into his background in India. They plan to talk to police in other states where he has lived to see if he has a crime record there as well.
Because most of the deaths were foreigners, the police stated that they had told the foreign governments as required by procedure.
What the Community and the Government Did
People who live in Goa and people who live there temporarily have both been paying attention to the killings because they were violent and involved more than one person. Police officials stressed the importance of a careful and detailed probe, saying it would be very bad to link multiple deaths to a single suspect without all the proof.
As the probe goes on, the main focus is still on proving the full scope of Leonov’s claimed actions, finding any other victims, and coming up with a clear reason for the killings.
