Three youths on a new year trip to Bhaderwah were found dead in a guest house on Wednesday evening, police said on Thursday.
The deceased were identified as Mukesh Singh (39), Ashutosh Singh and Sunny Choudhary, all residents of Jammu.
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The police were alerted after one of the deceased did not respond to the repeated phone calls from his family.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Doda Sandeep Mehta confirmed the incident and said; “We received a call from Jammu that a person named Ashutosh had come with his two friends in Bhaderwah to celebrate the new year. He was not responding to phone calls. Our team tracked and located them; They were in a hotel room. The door was locked from inside. When the team managed to get into the room – they found all three people unconscious”
“A forensic team also came to the spot and a team of doctors declared them dead,” he said.
The SSP stated that a formal investigation is underway to determine the exact circumstances surrounding their deaths. “We are exploring all angles, and the preliminary cause appears to be suffocation.”
Sensing the gravity of the situation, a special investigation team has been constituted by the SSP Doda with Additional SP Bhaderwah as in charge SIT and other professional police officers to ascertain the actual cause of death and to rule out any foul play. On the request of the District Police, a medical board has been constituted to conduct post mortem of the deceased.
In this regard, inquest proceedings under section 194 BNS have been initiated vide DD no 28 dated 01/0/2025 of police station Bhaderwah.