Atharva Shinde death: It was a rave party where drugs and alcohol flowed freely, say police

A day after Atharva Shinde, the 20-year-old son of a Mumbai police inspector, was found dead in Goregaon’s Aarey Colony, investigations and statements from people who attended the party at which Atharva was last seen revealed that there was heavy consumption of alcohol and drugs.

Police said weed and Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, or LSD, were served at the party arranged by a Malad-based Marathi film and television producer to celebrate his daughter’s 18th birthday.

The filmmaker booked the flat online, and was with his daughter until her friends started to arrive, a police officer said on condition of anonymity.

The officer said the filmmaker did not know about the use of narcotics at the party.

On Wednesday, Atharva’s father found his body around 500 metres from the apartment. While it is unclear still if Atharva had consumed drugs, his post-mortem report said the cause of death was a chest injury.

Doctors also found a deep laceration above his anal region. Doctors at Siddhartha hospital in Goregaon have sent tissue samples from the wounds for forensic investigation, which will reveal if he took drugs. CCTV camera footage of the area showed Atharva’s movements moments before he died. He appeared to be in an inebriated condition when he left the house around 7am on Tuesday. He was then seen trying to stop vehicles, but none stopped.

He then got into an auto-rickshaw, but the driver dropped him back at the same spot after driving a few metres ahead. The police believe Atharva did not know what was going on, so the driver left him alone. Atharva is then seen running and vomiting, and jumping from the wall of a building. It showed that a watchman had seen Atharva, but did not inform the police. Atharva then started moving towards a pond, which is when he went out of camera coverage range.

A student from HR college, who was at the party, told the police in his statement, “People were doing drugs. I am not sure whether Atharva did drugs but I saw three or four people doing LSD. I smoked weed. I did not do LSD.”

Police sources said that those who attended the party were so high on the drugs and alcohol that the effects had not worn out even on Thursday. “Many of them do not remember what happened to them. Some of them are even unaware of their actions. There were a few heated arguments,” added the police officer.

“Even in the CCTV footage of the venue, it is visible that some of the youngsters were having heated argument and others were trying to intervene. It is visible that youngsters are being pulled back by their friends but no physical fight is visible in the recording,” said the officer.