British fugitive dies mysteriously in Goa

PANAJI - British fugitive Ajay Kaushal died mysteriously while being ferried from a jail here Monday night, an official said Tuesday. He had telephoned a local journalist a few days ago, promising to tell “horror stories” inside the jail.

Kaushal, 50, who had come to Goa to flee a 15-year sentence for assault and kidnapping in Britain, was lodged in the Sada Jail in Vasco, 35 km from Panaji.

Glenn Costa, a senior journalist working for a leading local English newspaper told IANS: “The person, who identified himself as Ajay Kaushal from Sada Jail, had called me requesting a meeting, because he wanted to tell me stories about the going-ons in the jail.”

“He called my office, which passed my mobile number to him. Kaushal first called me a month back, asking me to meet up with him in jail. We spoke for the last time last week,” Costa said, adding that he had planned to meet Kaushal next week.

Kaushal was on the most wanted list of the Lancashire constabulary and was arrested Oct 28 last year at a coastal resort in south Goa.

He had booked himself at the resort along with Scottish national William Scott Youdale. Incidentally, it was the Glasgow-born Youdale’s death and the subsequent media coverage it received that led to Kaushal’s arrest.

Jail superintendent R. Satardekar said the fugitive died while being ferried to a local health facility after he was found in an unconscious state in his cell Monday night.

“We have sent the body for post-mortem. We do not know the exact cause of death. But he had a history of diabetes,” Satardekar said.

Kaushal was on the run after a Preston crown court in Lancashire, Britain, sentenced him to 15 years’ imprisonment for kidnapping a British businessman at Burnley.