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4 yrs on, police crack mystery, arrest Panjab University prof for wife’s murder
Brain-mapping results, investigators said, finally confirmed their longstanding theory that the killing was committed by someone inside the house
Over four years after his wife was found murdered inside their house on the Panjab University campus in Sector 14 in November 2021, Chandigarh Police on Monday arrested professor BB Goyal, the man they had suspected all along.
Brain-mapping results, investigators said, finally confirmed their longstanding theory that the killing was committed by someone inside the house, and Goyal was the only person present through the night.
Senior officers said the Brain Electrical Oscillation Signature (BEOS) profiling test conducted at the National Forensic Sciences University, Rohini, revealed that Goyal’s brain registered and responded to crime-specific details, indicating “experiential knowledge” of the murder.
After more than three years with no physical evidence — no fingerprints, no DNA, no weapon and no foreign trace material — police had turned to neuro-psychological forensics, a rare and controversial route in the Indian legal system.
Police have now sought a three-day remand to confront the accused with the findings and reconstruct the sequence of events.
A mysterious murder with no clues
On the morning of November 4, 2021, the Diwali day that year, the professor’s wife, Seema Goyal, 60, a homemaker, was found dead in the ground-floor bedroom of the couple’s official accommodation on PU’s north campus.
Goyal had claimed that he and his wife slept in different rooms on the ground and first floors the previous night. When he came down the next morning, he was unable to open the main door. He then went to the gate using the kitchen door and found the main door locked from outside.
On entering the house again, he went to his wife’s room, and claimed to have found her lying unconscious on the bed, with her hands and legs tied with a cloth.
The body had already been moved to Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, before police were alerted.
The couple’s only daughter, Parul, was away at a friend’s house since the previous day.
Police had recorded both Goyal’s and Parul’s statements by November 7.
What followed was a prolonged dead end as the forensic teams failed to recover any usable clue. CCTV footage captured no outsider entering or leaving the premises.
Still teaching at UBS
Even as the investigation dragged on, Goyal continued teaching at the University Business School (UBS). Five months after his wife’s murder, he was appointed as the UBS chairperson.
Colleagues said the professor, now 63 years old, had been with PU for nearly three decades and is currently working on extension after retirement.
Vice-chancellor Renu Vig said he had moved the Punjab and Haryana high court and obtained directions allowing him to remain on extension.
PU registrar YP Verma confirmed that the university will now initiate action against Goyal. He will be suspended within 48 hours of his arrest and his services will be terminated, if he is convicted.
The couple lived in a house located directly behind the vice-chancellor’s residence. After the murder, it has remained largely abandoned.
Brain-mapping test confirmed his knowledge of crime: Cops
Chandigarh SSP Kanwardeep Kaur confirmed that the BEOS profiling of Goyal confirmed his direct involvement in the murder.
The BEOS test report revealed that Goyal’s brain recognised and responded to specific crime-related stimuli, indicating experiential knowledge of the crime.
“The polygraph test of the couple’s daughter indicated his involvement, following which police proceeded with BEOS profiling,” she said.
She added that these findings fundamentally strengthened the police’s theory that the crime was committed by someone inside the house, dismissing the possibility of an outsider.
How does brain-mapping work
BEOS profiling is a neuropsychological forensic technique used to detect whether a person has experiential knowledge related to a crime.
When an accused undergoes the brain-mapping test, this technology can reportedly reveal his experience, knowledge and even the involvement in crime by studying the electrical behaviour of the brain.
Unlike polygraph tests that monitor physiological responses like heart rate and sweat, BEOS relies on brain activity alone, recorded through electrodes attached to the scalp (EEG).
The test is based on the idea that if someone has committed or witnessed a crime, their brain will recognise and respond to specific crime-related details, even if they don’t speak.
Why police always believed it was an inside job
While the BEOS test is the final piece of evidence nailing Goyal to the crime, police all along believed that it was an inside job.
Here’s why:
Only professor BB Goyal was present at home since the previous night
The couple’s only daughter, Parul, was staying at a friend’s place that night
There were no signs of forced entry into the house
Mesh panels on the bedroom and kitchen doors were found cut from the inside
CCTV footage captured no outsider entering or leaving
The victim’s mobile phone was missing, but call data indicated it never left the university campus
Significant and unexplained delay by Goyal in alerting police; in fact, police were alerted by the hospital staff and not Goyal himself
The victim’s body had already been removed from the crime scene and moved to the hospital before police arrived
These critical observations caused investigators to focus on Goyal, leading them to request a narco analysis test, which was not conducted due to medical reasons, and eventually the brain-mapping test.
