Political decibels rise over death of Bollywood designer in Goa

Mayabhushan Nagvenkar/Panaji The death of 27-year-old Bollywood costume designer Isha Mantry, under mysterious circumstances, at the high-profile Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festival late Monday night has increased political decibel in Goa. While police, quoting her friends, suggest that Mantry’s death could be linked to a combination of medication, alcohol and fatigue, the Opposition has alleged that the 27-year-old costume designer, who had worked in the prestigious Priyanka Chopra-starrer ‘Mary Kom’ film this year, died due to a drug overdose. The Nationalist Congress party (NCP) has alleged that the designer died due to alleged drug overdose and that the police were trying to hush up the matter. “Isha Mantry’s death should be probed by the CBI (Central Bureau of Intelligence). The local police are only trying to cover up the drug angle because they are involved,” state NCP vice president Trajano D’Mello told Firstpost. [caption id=“attachment_2028515” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Courtesy: Facebook[/caption] Investigating officials quoting recorded statements of friends of the deceased, claim that she was under medication from migraine and that consumption of alcohol in such a state could have resulted in her passing out at the venue and subsequent death. “This reasoning is based on the content of statements given to us the deceased’s friends. The real reason will only be ascertained during the post mortem later today,” a senior police official said, requesting anonymity. The results of the post mortem are expected to be out late on Wednesday evening. Speaking to reporters Deputy Inspector General (DIG) V Ranganathan said that the girl was declared dead on arrival at a local hospital, where she was ferried to after she fainted at Candolim beach, the venue for the event. “Her friends have said (also) that she was under medication,” Ranganathan said. The death comes less than a week after tourism minister Dilip Parulekar, cornered over the links between narcotics sale and electronic dance music festivals, gave his “word” that if presence of drugs is proven the festival venues, would ban EDM festivals in the future. “If we find anyone doing drugs we will cancel license of the event immediately. They will be blacklisted and won’t be allowed to hold their events in the state in future,” said Parulekar, who like his predecessors has been a vocal supporter of EDM festivals. D’Mello and Congress spokesperson Sunil Kawthankar have now demanded a ban on EDM festivals and the sacking of tourism minister Dilip Parulekar, who they claim had “vouched” for the safety of human life at the music festivals. Mantry is not the first music reveler to die under mysterious circumstances at an EDM event. In 2010, 23-year-old Meha Bahuguna from Bengaluru collapsed to her death at another EDM festival. A post mortem report later revealed that the 23-year-old girl Meha Bahuguna had died of a drug overdose. As late as last year then chief minister Manohar Parrikar in an official noting on a tourism ministry file related to permission for an EDM festival called the event “…a big headache due to complaints of drugs/smoking/traffic jams and allegations of kickbacks/forced free tickets. Unless these issues are sorted out all such festivals needs a re-look. May discuss for clarity”. Tourism minister Dilip Parulekar meanwhile said that the EDM event wound up for the night on Monday night at 10 am and the victim fainted at around 11:30 pm. “She fell much after the event was over,” he said.