the goan I network
MAPUSA
A third Indian tourist died under mysterious circumstances after collapsing at the venue of the three-day Sunburn Klassique EDM festival in Vagator on Sunday night, barely two days after two tourists had died under similar circumstances.
According to reports, Phanideep Kotta (24) of Bengaluru fainted at the EDM festival at about 10.30 pm on Sunday and was administered first aid at the venue. He was later shifted to a nearby private hospital at Anjuna, where he passed away about an hour later.
Though the hospital is located barely 2.5 kms from the EDM venue, it took the ambulance nearly 45 minutes to reach the hospital on account of heavy traffic along the route.
Acting on information from the hospital, an Anjuna police team conducted a panchanama and the body was later shifted to the GMC hospital.
The autopsy was performed on Monday afternoon following the arrival of the father of the deceased. The autopsy report has been reserved and the viscera has been sent for further analysis.
Employed at an automobile company in Bangalore, Kotta and four friends had arrived in the State. The four friends had dropped Kotta at Anjuna and he later joined some other friends to attend the EDM.
While police declined to
reveal the exact location where Kotta had collapsed, sources said the incident took place within the premises of the Sunburn EDM.
The Anti-Narcotic Cell had deployed sniffer dogs to check for drugs at the Sunburn EDM.
Incidentally, this is the fifth death linked to the EDM so far and the third during the Sunburn EDM between Friday and Sunday.
On Friday, two youth, Sai Prasad Malayala and Venkat Satyanarayana, both hailing from Andhra Pradesh, had died after collapsing outside the venue while they were waiting in a queue to enter the festival.
While the post-mortem report did not pinpoint the reason behind the deaths of Malayala and Satyanarayana, there had been speculation that drug overdose could had led to their deaths.
Police said the viscera of both bodies had been preserved and further toxicology tests would be conducted to examine if drugs were the cause of their deaths.
Earlier in 2009, Meha Bahuguna of New Delhi had died at the Sunburn EDM in Candolim, while Isha Mantri of Bangaluru died at the Supersonic EDM at Baga in 2014.
