India, Jan. 21 -- Two of the foreign nationals claimed to have been killed by Russian national Aleksei Leonov had left the country and are alive, a senior Goa police officer said on Tuesday, underlining that the man arrested on charges of murdering two Russian women had made exaggerated claims during his interrogation.

Leonov, 37, had also allegedly claimed to have smothered a 40-year-old Assam woman living in Goa who was found dead on January 14 due to a suspected drug overdose. But her autopsy did not reveal any injury marks, the officer said.

The Russian man was arrested in Arambol, a village popular among foreigners, early on January 16 for murdering Elena Kashtanova, 37, his live-in partner and a go-go and fire dancer. During inter...