Caitan Vholte, a 30-year-old American tourist, died of suffocation in a paddy field sludge at Korgao, Pernem, north coastal Goa on Tuesday evening after he was chased by the locals suspecting him to be a thief.
Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar confirmed the incident that happened in Mandrem, his Assembly constituency, when opposition leader Pratapsing Rane raised the issue in the State Legislative Assembly during “zero hour” on Wednesday.
“I am told he was chased by the people as well as the police and he died of suffocation in the sludge of the paddy field at Korgao”, said Mr. Parsekar, who assured the House that he will get the details of the case.
Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mapusa Mahesh Gaonkar, however, denied police chased the American and claimed that the victim declined the assistance offered by the police.
According to police, the deceased had a squabble with three Nigerians in Harmal village of north coastal Goa at around 3.30 pm on Tuesday resulting into his running away from them.
As he reached Korgao village and was resting on a scooter, locals thought he was trying to steal the scooter and tried to chase him away.
Scared of the locals, Vholte again ran for his life and jumped into a paddy field and started running till he fell in deep sludge and suffocated.
The locals went to rescue him and managed to pull him out of the sludge, and rushed him to a doctor. However, he died on the way.
Mr. Gaonkar claimed that the police also tried to help him but he ran more as he saw police.
The police have registered it as an unnatural death and awaiting American Embassy official to arrive to conduct post-mortem, a spokesperson of the police said.
