However, police admitted privately that the questioning yielded little breakthrough, with the youths sticking firmly to their original claim that they had consumed only alcohol on the night of the incident.
“The friends of the deceased who were with him that night are not cooperating with the investigation. They were questioned extensively, but they have revealed nothing beyond their earlier statements,” a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity.
Sources said the statements of the friends are considered crucial, especially because police are yet to receive the final viscera analysis report from the Goa State Forensic Science Laboratory (GSFSL), Verna, nearly a month after the incident.
The delay has significantly slowed the investigation, even as preliminary medical findings had pointed strongly towards a fatal drug overdose.
According to sources familiar with the probe, a rapid bedside toxicology screening conducted shortly after the youth was brought to Goa Medical College and Hospital had detected six different psychoactive substances in his system, all reportedly far above permissible cut-off levels.
Police are also awaiting the forensic analysis of blood samples collected from seven friends of the deceased nearly 10 days after the incident. Police sources admitted that the delayed collection of samples itself could weaken evidentiary value in determining recent narcotic consumption.
“Without conclusive forensic evidence and without cooperation from the group, the investigation is stuck in a difficult position,” a source associated with the probe said.
Police sources maintain that if the deceased indeed died of a drug overdose, it would be difficult to believe that others in the group were completely unaware of or uninvolved in narcotic consumption that night.
The group of eight youths, all reportedly students in their early twenties from Indore, had travelled to Goa to attend a high-profile electronic music event featuring internationally renowned DJ Black Coffee.
Sources said the group frequently travelled together to music festivals and entertainment destinations across India and abroad.
“These boys were regular attendees at music events and had travelled together earlier as well, including to Thailand last year. Goa was not their first party trip,” a source said.
Meanwhile, Club Raeeth in Vagator “ where the youth allegedly collapsed before being rushed to hospital “ has remained shut since the incident.
Police confirmed that the management and staff of the club were questioned as part of the probe, but police so far have not established any direct role or negligence on the part of the nightclub.
“There is nothing concrete against the club management at this stage,” a police source said, indicating that the establishment may effectively get a clean chit unless fresh evidence emerges.
The incident had sparked widespread concern over the growing drug culture surrounding nightlife events in the coastal belt, particularly in the Anjuna-Vagator party circuit, which has repeatedly come under scrutiny in the past over narcotics abuse and enforcement failures.
With forensic reports still awaited, no arrests made and key witnesses remaining silent, the case now risks joining a long list of suspected drug-related deaths in Goa that never reached a conclusive end.
The larger question now being asked is whether the investigation will eventually uncover the truth behind the youth’s death “ or quietly fade away with time.
