the goan I network
PANAJI
The decomposed body of 65-year-old Geeta Ratnakar Chopdekar was discovered on Monday in her flat on the third-floor at a residential building at Patto in the city.
Geeta is the wife of former minister Ratnakar Chopdekar who represented Aldona constituency after a giant-killing victory over former Deputy CM Dayanand Narvekar in the first election after Goa attained Statehood in 1989.
A case of unnatural death has been registered by the Panaji police who presume that she must have died around 4 to 5 days ago.
Police have contacted her relatives and her body will be handed over on Tuesday to her children from a previous marriage.
As per information received, Geeta was living alone for several years in the flat. Her husband Ratnakar Chopdekar was elected from Aldona Constituency and was a minister for Inland Waterways, Provedoria and Public Assistance and fisheries in the Ravi Naik-led Congress government in the 1990s.
The whereabouts of Chopdekar are also unknown for the last several years.
Geeta’s death has been registered under section 174 IPC. Her body has been sent to the morgue at Goa Medical College, Bambolim and an autopsy will be carried out before handing over the body to her children.
This the second incident in recent months wherein a woman staying alone has died and her body found in a decomposed state.
In February the skeletal remains of a 56-year-old lady were recovered from a flat in Porvorim. The remains were identified to be that of the wife of the late journalist and freedom fighter Vaman Radhakrishna.
The cause of her death is yet to be ascertained but according to police reports, she might have died around four months prior to the discovery of her body.
