"It was a brutal and merciless killing"
Kashish Aggarwal, aged 28, of Leicester, was jailed for life after he killed his wife in a savage knife attack.
Leicester Crown Court heard that he wrapped the body of 29-year-old Geetika Goyal in plastic sheeting at their home in Wintersdale Road and dragged her into the garage.
Aggarwal then put her body into the boot of her own Mercedes.
Aggarwal drove to a quiet residential cul-de-sac in nearby Uppingham Close and left her body on the pavement on March 3, 2021.
He then called her family, claiming she had gone missing.
Two weeks earlier, Aggarwal booked a flight to India, for March 5, as an “escape route”.
Geetika had been her “usual happy self” that day. She worked at her family’s textile business in the city and returned home at 5:30 pm.
She spoke to her mother on the phone at 6 pm and made a missed call to a friend at 7 pm.
Aggarwal arrived home at 7:03 pm and within two minutes had moved his wife’s car out of the drive to reverse it back in, so the boot was next to the garage door.
Judge Timothy Spencer QC told Aggarwal:
“In the next hour, you killed your wife.
“It was a brutal and merciless killing and you stabbed her repeatedly, concentrating on her neck and upper chest area.”
Geetika suffered at least 19 separate wounds that were caused by an eight-inch chef’s knife.
Judge Spencer continued: “She lost a lot of blood and you allowed her body to bleed out and set about cleaning up and covering your tracks.
“She fought to save her life and must have been in immense pain before her life ebbed away.
“I strongly suspect you watched her life evaporate.
“It amounts to the execution of your wife.
“She was killed in her own home and you attempted to brazen it out with her family, claiming she had gone missing.
“You wrapped her in plastic sheeting and loaded her body into the boot and at 8:14 pm drove away.”
At 8:17 pm, he dumped his wife’s body approximately half a mile away “without any dignity” on the pavement. Her body was found at 2:25 am.
William Harbage QC, prosecuting, said the couple had an arranged marriage in India in December 2016.
The following summer, Aggarwal joined his wife in Leicester, where Geetika’s family provided them with a home, cars and finances.
Judge Spencer said: “On the surface, all seemed well, both were in employment and had a well-appointed house in a nice area, but there were tensions in the marriage.
“She was to confide to her mother that sexual relations were rare.
“At one point she indicated she didn’t want the marriage to continue and they were encouraged to work on it together.”
At an earlier hearing, Aggarwal pleaded guilty to murder.
The victim’s brother, Hemant Goyal, read out a personal statement on behalf of the family.
He said:
“We can never imagine the pain she went through when she was taken away.”
Hemant said his sister would have been scared and screaming for help as she was “terrorised and tortured” by the “cowardly” defendant whose actions were “monstrous, evil and callous”.
He admitted he was “tormented and haunted” by the fact he was not there to save his beloved sister.
Hemant added that Geetika was a wonderful aunt to his two young children, who struggled to understand what had happened to her.
Defending, Tim Clark QC said Aggarwal did not destroy or hide his wife’s body. Instead, he left it where it would be found.
He said there was no attempt at secrecy about his intended trip to India on March 5.
He said Aggarwal was educated to post-graduate level in India and had no previous convictions.
On October 18, 2021, Aggarwal was jailed for life, to serve a minimum of 20 years and six months.
Judge Spencer added that Aggarwal clearly “harboured very dark thoughts” during the lead up to the murder.
Detective Inspector Jenni Heggs, of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, said:
“Today my thoughts are with Geetika Goyal and her family.
“Geetika was just 29-years-old when a person, who she should have been able to rely on and trust, violently attacked her in her own home before ultimately dumping her body in a nearby street.
“Aggarwal showed no remorse and was only interested in trying to cover his own tracks – pretending to family, friends and the police that he had no idea what had happened to his wife.
“He continued to change his version of events a number of times when being interviewed by police.
“Today’s hearing sadly will not bring Geetika back but I do hope it helps Geetika’s family in some small way to see that justice has been done for their daughter and sister who lost her life in this most horrendous way.
“My thanks do go to Geetika’s family for their bravery, patience and co-operation with us during the past eight months as well as to all those who helped us during the investigation.”
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