Rani Goshwalla (1993-2013; Hin: रानी गोश्वल्ल) was the victim in Murder on Campus (Case #32 of Grimsborough).
Profile
Rani was a first-year student at the Grimsborough University and a new recruit of the Psi Sigma Gamma sorority, whose president was Madison Springer. Rani had curly black hair and brown eyes, and wore a dark sea green and gold salwar kameez the same style as her sister's. At the time of her death, she wore a lime bikini. It is known that Rani was lactose intolerant.
Murder details
Rani was found dead in her college grounds. She was tied up wearing a bikini next to ant hill with writings and marks all over her body. Upon autopsy, Nathan told Jones and the player that the messages were harmless. He also said that the victim was tied up next to the anthill and forced to drink huge amounts of alcohol until she was unconscious. The sugars in the alcohol then attracted the nearby ants, which began to swarm her system until she asyphxiated. Grace's analysis of the ants found traces of the victim, confirming Nathan's autopsy. Additionally, she found traces of frozen yogurt in the ant system. Because Rani was lactose intolerant, the team deduced that their killer ate frozen yogurt.
Relationship with suspects
Dean Donna Walker told the team that Rani was admitted to the university as a model student and thus suspected her death to stem from a hazing ritual. Rani's sister, Misha Goshwalla, had written her a guide to surviving rush week in order to excuse her of sisterly duties as she did not want to babysit her sister. Misha said that Rani might have been very scared to be away from home and thus desperate to join any sorority to make friends.
The team later learned that Rani was a Psi Sigma Gamma pledge. The sorority president, Madison Springer, denied hosting a hazing, saying that their sorority had held a bikini party the previous night where they gave out a few "challenges" to test which of the first-year rushees would be admitted to the sorority.
Rani was also known to have caught Josh Anderson kissing another boy. Not wanting his reputation to be destroyed if Rani told anyone, he "leaked" a video of him bragging that he had sex with her so that nobody would believe her if she ever talked.
Killer and motives
The killer turned out to be Misha.
After learning from Madison that Rani had been admitted to the sorority and that she was "so much cooler than her", Misha decided to go to the university to tell Rani of her jealousy towards her. When she saw her bikini-clad sister, Misha thought of humiliating Rani in front of the whole college to destroy her reputation. She then gave her sister lots of drinks, telling her that there were more hazing rituals, before she passed out. She then tied her up to expose her to the whole college, but unfortunately, she had been tied up next to an anthill. Judge Hall sentenced Misha to 12 years in jail with regular psychiatric sessions.
The team eventually found out that Misha was one of the killers who were hypnotized by Tess Goodwin to kill against their own will by taking advantage of their insecurities.
Trivia
- Rani's death at the hands of her sister is one of the six instances of domestic homicide in Grimsborough.
Case appearances
- Murder on Campus (Case #32 of Grimsborough)
- At the End of the Rope (Case #35 of Grimsborough; mentioned)
- The Rorschach Reaper (Case #41 of Grimsborough; mentioned)