TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Young fashion designer Isha Mantry did not die of a drug overdose. The viscera report has confirmed her death as due to a combination of alcohol and medication.
A police officer told Herald that the Bangalore Forensic Science Laboratory’s report dispatched to Goa police last week emphasized that chemical analysis of exhibits did not have any traces of drugs.
The 27-year-old designer had collapsed at the Supersonic Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festival and subsequently died at a private hospital on December 29, 2014. Initial reports suggested she died of a drug overdose while her friends, in their deposition to Calangute police, had ruled out drug abuse. They stated Mantry, who complained of uneasiness before falling unconscious at the venue, did consume alcohol excessively.
Calangute police who are in receipt of the FSL report have forwarded it to the Goa Medical College and Hospital for certification.
“It is clear that the cause of Mantry’s death is not due to drug overdose. There was no presence of drugs in the organ system but the content of alcohol was very high, and she was also taking some medication,” a senior officer said.
Mantry who was an assistant costume designer in Bollywood was ‘brought dead’ to Mathew Braganza Hospital & Research Centre in Calangute. As per hospital records, she had collapsed at about 10 pm and shifted to the ICU but all attempts to revive her had failed.
A panel of four GMC doctors who conducted the postmortem had reserved its opinion on the cause of death, pending the chemical analysis and histopathology examinations. Calangute police, after recording statements of over 17 witnesses, including Mantry’s friends, are now drafting an indictment in the case. “We were awaiting the FSL report to annex to the chargesheet,” the officer said.
