Goa police awaiting Russian consulate's nod for autopsy of actress

The Goa police are waiting for the Russian Consulate's nod to conduct a postmortem of the body of a 24-year-old Russian actress, who was found dead in her apartment in North Goa district last week, an official said on Monday.

Alexandra Djavi, who acted in some Tamil movies including "Kanchana 3", was found hanging in her rented flat in Siolim village of North Goa on Friday.

A senior police official said the body was kept in a mortuary while they were waiting for a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Russian Consulate to conduct the autopsy.

The police have already started an investigation into the case and recorded the statement of her boyfriend, he said. The woman's boyfriend, who was living with her in the same apartment, had gone out when she died.

Meanwhile, advocate Vikram Varma, the Goa representative of the Russian Consulate in Mumbai, urged the police to conduct a probe into the "possible role" of a Chennai-based photographer into the woman's death.

The deceased had filed a complaint of sexual harassment against the photographer in Chennai in 2019, he said.

"I was informed that the woman had been hounded and blackmailed by a person in Chennai. After a preliminary inquiry, the Chennai police had found enough evidence to register an FIR and subsequently arrest him,” he said.

Varma said the case (of the woman's death) "may have other facets which are not clearly visible at this stage".

The Russian Consulate was monitoring the case and would provide all required information and assistance to the Goa police, he added.