Around 8 p.m. on February 17, Ricki's naked body was discovered face down on the bathroom floor in room no. 48 of the Connaught Place hotel. His jugular vein had been slit with an I-shaped surgical blade. The police later discovered that there were puncture marks on the left side of his neck and the bridge of his nose was fractured.

DCP (New Delhi) T.N. Mohan says: ``The interpretation of the post-mortem report is suicide. But we still consider the nature of wounds suspicious. And we will continue to investigate whether he was murdered.''

Investigators point out that the circumstances under which Ricki's body was found on February 17 has raised several questions. The room was found ransacked and some travel documents and money were missing. Besides, Ricki reportedly had three visitors on the day before he was found dead.

``All of this has created more confusion. He used to visit India regularly and followed a particular travel schedule every time. We hope to find some clues by looking up his contacts and acquaintances at various places,'' says an official.

According to his usual programme, the 52-year-old American would first go to Thiruvananthapuram, then come to Delhi before taking off for Dharamshala. The police have sent teams to Kerala and Himachal Pradesh. Also, Ricki was supposed to have dinner with a couple from Dharamshala the day his body was found.

Ricki had been with the US Navy and his services had either been terminated or he had retired. According to his passport, he arrived in India in April 1998 on a 10-year visa. He stayed at the same hotel between December 7 and 21, 1998, and again in January this year for three days.

The police are probing the sex and robbery angles as well. They had found condoms and marijuana in the hotel bedroom and bathroom. They suspect robbery because the room had been ransacked and a large sum of money had been stolen. Investigations revealed that Ricki had withdrawn Rs 50,000 from the American Express Bank a few days before he was found dead.

He had checked into the hotel around 3 p.m. on February 15. He entered a New Mexico address 37 Encantado, Santa Fe in the hotel register and wrote `tourist' near his name. He also told the hotel staff that he had arrived from Thiruvananthapuram, adding that he expected to stay for only two days as he was planning to go to Himachal Pradesh.

Waiters in the hotel say that in the two days that Ricki had been there, they hardly noticed any activity or saw him moving around, adding that he basically kept to himself. He was last seen at around 7.15 a.m. on February 16, when he asked for a cake of soap.