No evidence that 19-yr-old woman found dead on Goa beach was murdered: Police

The Goa crime branch said it could not find any evidence to suggest that the 19-year-old found dead on Calangute beach was murdered

PANAJI: The Goa crime branch will close its investigation into the death of Siddhi Naik, a 19-year-old girl found dead and unclad on Calangute beach in August last year after failing to find evidence to substantiate the claim of murder, police said.

Siddhi Naik, 19, was found dead on Calangute beach in August last year. The Goa Police registered a murder case four months later under intense public pressure. (ANI File Photo)

Police initially registered a case of unnatural death after the autopsy report indicated she died of drowning and there was no evidence of sexual assault or attack. The death was registered as a murder case more than four months later against the backdrop of pressure from her family and the state’s opposition parties.

“We will file the closure report before the court on account of lack of evidence to prosecute this as a case of murder. The court will decide,” a spokesperson for the crime branch said.

The case was handed over to the crime branch following an uproar over the circumstances around the death of the 19-year-old in the run-up to the state elections held in February this year.

Naik, a salesperson at a shop in the city, went missing after her father dropped her at the bus stop from where she was to take the bus to work. She was found dead the following day on Calangute beach.