Caitanya Lila Holt died after choking on muddy water after the 30-year-old fell into a paddy field while being chased by villagers and cops who mistook him for a thief.
How an American tourist died in Goa about a week ago threatens to turn into a diplomatic flare-up.
The local police says that
Caitanya Lila Holt died after choking on muddy water after the 30-year-old fell into a paddy field while being chased by villagers and cops who mistook him for a thief.
The tourist, who was identified by his passport , was eventually pulled out of the mud by the police using ropes, but he was declared dead on arrival at a local hospital, police officer Umesh Gaonkar said. He claimed that said villagers grew suspicious of Mr Holt, who had arrived in India in July, when he stopped some strangers and went into some homes in a village on the outskirts of the state capital, Panaji. The villagers could not understand his English and apparently mistook him for a thief, he said.
A team of US officials is now in Goa to get more information on the case.
"They inspected the field in which Holt choked in the mud and also enquired with villagers in the vicinity. They are scheduled to attend the
post-mortem proceedings," an unnamed police official was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.
The
opposition Congress has accused the police of trying to cover up the case. In the state legislature, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said Mr Holt's death was an accident.
American officials have asked Indian authorities for details about his death and are in contact with Mr Holt's family in the US, said Heidi Hattenbach, a consular information officer.