The Nilgiris district police have arrested a 20-year-old youth and have charged him with culpable homicide after he and a 19-year-old woman consumed psychedelic mushrooms which police suspect could have led to her death on Sunday.
According to police, Akash, a resident of Bombay Castle in Udhagamandalam, along with the 19-year-old woman, from Fingerpost in Udhagamandalam, studying in Coimbatore, had consumed a large quantity of alcohol as well as psychedelic mushrooms which Akash had managed to procure.
They had also taken pictures of them collecting the substance on their mobile phones, police said.
The two had fallen asleep at Akash’s house in Bombay Castle on Saturday night after ingesting the substances, officials said. On Sunday morning, Akash woke up to find that the young woman was unresponsive and called the ambulance service. However, paramedics who arrived at the scene of the incident confirmed that the woman had died.
Based on a complaint by the girl’s father, police registered a case of unnatural death and began investigating the incident. “The two had consumed a large amount of alcohol along with the psychedelic mushrooms, so it remains unclear as to what caused the girl’s death. We have taken samples of the young woman’s organs and sent it for forensic analysis to confirm the cause of death,” said a top Nilgiris district police official.
