3 Russians, 2 murders, and 1 common name — Elena

On Tuesday, investigators said the accused told them during questioning earlier this week that his mother is also named Elena. “The accused claimed that his mother neglected him during childhood and later years, and that this led him to develop a certain animosity towards people named Elena,” an investigator said.

“Though this was not the motive for the two murders, it is a peculiar detail that came up in interrogation and paints a picture of his state of mind,” the officer said.

Police on Tuesday reiterated that Leonov has “psychopathic” tendencies and has “exaggerated” his claims of killing more people. They said that the evidence so far has pointed to his role in the murder of two women. While he has claimed he killed more, police said they found the disclosures to be “sketchy and inconsistent”.

“In one instance, where he claimed he killed a foreign national, an investigation has found that though he was acquainted with that woman, she left India sometime ago and is alive. In at least two such cases, he has spun a similar story, where his claims have been found to be false. This establishes that he is making up false stories and misleading the investigation,” said an investigator.

In the case of a 40-year-old woman from Assam, whose death was first reported as an “unnatural death” on January 14, Leonov had told police that he smothered her and drugged her. A police probe has now found that she died of a drug overdose.

“The postmortem report shows that it is a case of drug overdose. There are no injuries on her body that could point to a case of smothering. The accused met her days prior to her death. But whether the drugs were administered to her by someone, or she consumed them on her own, is a part of the investigation,” the officer said.

One of the two Russian women whom police accuse him of murdering, Elena Kasthanova, worked as a go-go dancer and usher at weddings and arrived in Goa on December 24. She was found murdered at 9.15 pm on Thursday at her rented accommodation in Arambol. Leonov allegedly assaulted Kasthanova and tied her hands behind her back with a rope, before slitting her neck with a sharp-edged weapon.

The other victim, Elena Vaneeva, was a bubble performer and artist who came to Goa recently and got acquainted with Leonov. Last Wednesday, sometime after 11 pm, Leonov is suspected of having killed Vaneeva by “slitting her neck with a sharp knife” at her rented accommodation in Morjim, police said.

Leonov is learnt to have told police that he was in a relationship with both women and was “living-in” with them. According to an investigator, Leonov claims he suspected Kasthanova was in a relationship with another man, while Vaneeva was killed over a monetary dispute.

Police said Leonov also claimed during questioning that one of the two women had borrowed a crown, used by fire display performers during shows, that belonged to him and refused to return it, which caused some friction between them.