4 years on, PU prof held for wife’s mysterious murder

Panjab University Prof Bharat Bhushan Goyal was arrested today in connection with the killing of his wife Seema Goyal, who was found dead at the couple’s official residence on the university campus on November 4, 2021.

A special investigation team of the police arrested the professor following what cops described as ‘fresh and credible evidence’ linking him to the murder. Prof Goyal, who teaches at the University of Business School, was produced in a local court, which sent him to three-day police remand.

According to the police, Prof Goyal’s arrest follows results from a forensic psychological assessment, brain-mapping tests and the accumulation of substantial technical and circumstantial evidence gathered over the past four years.

Seema was Prof Goyal’s second wife and a homemaker. She was found dead on the day of Diwali at their high-security campus residence. Her body was discovered on the ground floor with hands and legs tied with pieces of cloth and visible head injuries. The preliminary post-mortem report had concluded that she died due to strangulation.

How the case progressed

November 4, 2021: Seema Goyal found murdered at her PU campus residence with signs of strangulation and limbs tied

November 7, 2021: Statements of family members, victim’s husband Prof BB Goyal and daughter Parul recorded

December 7, 2021: UT police moved court for narco analysis

March 2022: Gujarat forensic lab declared Prof Goyal medically unfit for narco test

August 2022: Punjab and Haryana High Court sought status report after Seema’s brother filed a petition for independent investigation

2023-24: Prof Goyal, Parul undergo polygraph test

March 2025: Forensic psychological assessment of Parul done at Rohini, Delhi

July 2025: Prof Goyal underwent brain electrical oscillation signature

December 8, 2025: Prof Goyal arrested from PU

Prof Goyal had then told investigators that he was asleep on the first floor of the house when he was alerted by their milkman in the morning. He reportedly found the main door locked from outside. Later, he discovered his wife lying motionless. Before the police arrived, he moved the body to a hospital, an act that investigators later said had disturbed the crime scene. The victim’s mobile phone was also missing.

The lack of forced entry led officers to believe early on that the perpetrator was likely someone known to the victim. Forensic reports later indicated that the mesh panels of both bedroom and kitchen doors had been cut from the inside, raising further suspicion of an internal hand.

Over the years, the victim’s family persistently alleged that the couple’s interfaith marriage had led to tension within the household. They claimed that Prof Goyal subjected Seema to frequent harassment and physical abuse. Their daughter had also stated that the two had a heated argument a day before the murder.

The police suspected that Prof Goyal was withholding crucial information as he gave inconsistent statements during questioning that could help establish the sequence of events leading to Seema’s death. The police sought narco-analysis test on December 7, 2021, but he was declared medically unfit due to asthma condition in 2022 by a forensic lab at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

Later, both Parul, the couple’s daughter, and Prof Goyal had undergone polygraph tests. However, there were irregularities leading cops to conduct another assessment on the daughter in March and Prof Goyal in July.

The police, in July, turned to advance forensic technology and had Prof Goyal go through brain electrical oscillation signature (BEOS). The results were awaited by the Chandigarh Police to make a move against Goyal.

“Following the receipt of the BEOS results, our investigation team conducted a detailed analysis of the findings in relation to the sequence of events. Based on this assessment, we concluded that Prof Goyal is a key person of interest and required to be taken into police custody to establish the circumstances leading to his wife’s death. Unlike narco-analysis, which functions as a lie-detection tool, the BEOS is a memory-based forensic test that helps determine whether an individual has experiential knowledge of a specific incident. We are pursuing the test findings alongside other evidence as part of the ongoing investigation,” said SSP Kanwardeep Kaur.

The fact that no DNA fingerprints or strand of hair was found at the crime scene; nothing stolen from inside the house, including the necklace worn by the victim; signs of window mesh cut from inside, no CCTV footage of entry or exit of suspicious or unidentified person and lastly, Seema’s unfound phone’s call logs revealing that it never left the PU campus area, all pointed towards family hiding details from the police.