Panaji:
Postmortem of a US national, who died after he fell down in a paddy field while running away from a group of chasing locals who mistook him for a thief, has identified 'inhalation of mud' as the provisional cause of his death, even as Congress sought a CBI probe, accusing the police of "hushing up" the matter.
"The provisional cause of Caitanya Lila Holt's death has been identified as aspiration of grey-brownish matter. There are multiple injuries on the body, but they are non-fatal," a senior doctor from the Goa Medical College and Hospital said on Sunday.
The postmortem was conducted last evening at the Goa Medical College and Hospital and his viscera has been preserved.
30-year-old Holt died on Tuesday after he fell down in a sludgy paddy field while being chased by some villagers in Korgao whi mistook him for a thief.
While police have refused to divulge any details about the autopsy report, the opposition party demanded the probe by the central agency, alleging the police are "suppressing" the investigation.
"There should be a thorough inquiry into why he (Holt) was being chased and who was chasing him. We can't rely on local police for inquiry, it should be handed over to an agency like CBI as the matter is related to a foreign national," Goa Congress spokesperson Sunil Kawathankar said in Panaji.
He expressed surprise over Holt's death, allegedly due to choking on mud, saying "Goa's paddy fields are not known to have marshy lands".
"Police are trying to hush up the case...pointing towards the autopsy report (in case of questions) and have failed to probe the incidents that led his death," the Congress leader alleged.
He said that the incident like this wherein a foreigner was chased to death will send a "wrong signal" in the tourism circle.
Mr Kawathankar said the Goans are known as tolerant people.
"We are not a violent society that someone would be chased because he was screaming in public," he said.