SRINAGAR; 16, April 2013: The Kashmiri boyfriend of British fitness instructor Sarah Groves, who was killed on his Kashmir houseboat, had taken up to Rs 5,00,267 (£6000) in loans from her since they began a relationship in Goa over the New Year, according to police investigating her murder.

Aftul ul Mujtada, Srinagar's Deputy Inspector General, said his detectives were investigating the loans separate from the inquiry into her murder and suspect that Samir Shoda and his family may have befriended Ms Groves to dupe her into giving them money. He has told Mr Shoda the money must be repaid to Ms Groves' family.

Ms Groves was attacked and stabbed to death in her room on the Shoda family's New Beauty houseboat hotel on Srinagar's picturesque Lake Dal in the early hours of April 5th. A Dutch guest, Richard De Wit, was arrested for her murder and later said he had killed her under the influence of cannabis, which had aggravated his paranoid condition, police said.

The victim had been living with Samir Shoda and his family for several months after they met and began a relationship in Goa during Christmas. He had invited her to his home where they had shared a room and she had lived as part of the Shoda family.

Members of the Shoda family have given many interviews to newspapers and television stations voicing their grief at her death and describing her as 'like a daughter' to them.


But the disclosure that the financially comfortable family had borrowed large sums of money from Ms Groves has raised questions about the true nature of their relationship.

Kashmiri neighbours said it was highly unusual for conservative Islamic families in Kashmir to be happy about unmarried couples sleeping together in their homes, while others noted that Ms Groves had been working hard in the family kitchen throughout her stay.

"The family of Sarah have expressed some misgivings about the [Shoda] family. Sarah had given Samir some money. Since they were in Goa she gave him four to five lakhs (£5,000 to £6,200) and it must be paid back," DIG ul Mujtada said.

Samir Shoda last night confirmed he had borrowed money from Ms Groves but denied there was an ulterior motive. She had given him 4, 58,000 Rupees (£5493), just under £5,500, to finance their plans together, he said - but he declined to elaborate. "We had personal plans, we were in love, it's personal, what we wanted to do. Now it doesn't matter so I gave it back to her Dad. It doesn't matter because I lost someone who was everything to me," he said.