Arambol is situated in North Goa in Pernem Taluka. It is very famous amongst the foreigners as well as Indians. But the recent cases of rising in deaths of tourists in this area have amounted into boosting the suspicion amongst the locals. According to the sources, the police is ineffective in these cases.
The recent death of 25-year-old woman in Arambol whose identity has not yet been verified amounted into raising the concerns over the working of the police in that area. According to the sources, that area comes under the jurisdiction of Pernem police station which is presently headed by the Police Inspector Devendra Gad. Goa Prism tried to get in touch with Mr. Gad via telephone but most of the time he was unavailable at the station but finally when our staff managed to inquire about the progress of the investigation of the suspicious death of 25-year-old woman, he could not provide the satisfactory answers.
Three deaths have been reported from the Arambol area within just one month’s time and all were supposedly related to the alleged drug overdose. According to the sources, the locals feel that the rise in death is due to the increase in late night parties at shacks and resorts which attract the younger crowd from metropolitan areas. The locals have also raised the concern over the increasing drug consumption cases along the coastal belt of Pernem.
According to the local residents of Arambol, the 25-year-old woman who was found dead in semi-nude condition at Arambol beach was last spotted at the party venue in Arambol. When her body was recovered she was foaming from mouth and nose which is the symptom of a drug overdose. Some sources have also alleged that the PI of Pernem police station is setting up all the cases as only 45 days are left for his retirement.
The postmortem of the body was done long back but the forensic expert, as usual, has reserved their opinion. According to the reports, the doctors suspect the cause of death as an overdose of the drug. But surprisingly after almost 15 days police were unable to establish the identity of the woman.
There were no traces of any sexual assault on her body although doctors did not rule out the possibility of the same. The vaginal swabs have been preserved for the serological examination. The doctors also ruled out the possibility of death due to asphyxia as suspected by the police. The forensic experts have not ruled out the cause of death due to a drug overdose. The police are yet to send the viscera sample for chemical analysis.
This is not the first case of death due to suspected drug overdose in the Arambol, there are two more cases that have been reported from this area during the short period of just one month. Twenty-four-year-old Harsaheb Baweja was found dead in the jungle of Keri-Arambol plateau on December 31, 2014 and the death of American Tourist Caetano had also been linked with drug consumption.
According to the sources, the police are ruling out the possibility of drug overdose claiming that in both the autopsy reports there have been no mentions of drugs or other psychotropic substances. Meanwhile, despite locals have claimed that they have seen the deceased woman partying at the shack the Mapusa Deputy Superintendent of police Mahesh Gaonkar said that the police are exploring the possibility that the body could have drifted along the Arambol coast from neighboring beaches of Maharashtra.
The police claims and the testimonies of locals seem to have wider contradictions. This matter needs to be investigated by the CBI. There are cases of abuse of drugs in the Arambol area and many local as well as national newspapers have already highlighted the same on several occasions, but no action have been taken in the direction of curbing those activities. If you have anything to suggest in this case please do leave your comments and suggestions at the end of this article.
Source: Various Sources
