Selfie at 1.36 am, tragic call at 8 am: Family recalls last contact with woman who died on vacation in Mussoorie

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At 1.36 am on Monday, Soumya Sricharan and P Radha Gayatri sent a selfie from their Mussoorie vacation to the latter’s father, P Sudhakar. When he woke up in the morning at his Visakhapatnam home, he shared it with his wife.“At 8 am, Sricharan called me to say that Gayatri was dead,” said Sudhakar, waiting at the government district hospital in Dehradun on Tuesday.On Monday morning, Sricharan found his 27-year-old wife, Gayatri, in bed and unresponsive. She was bleeding from the nose, and by the time medical staff tried to resuscitate her in the ambulance, she had died, as per police.The couple had travelled from Delhi to Rishikesh on Saturday. On Sunday night, they travelled from Rishikesh to a homestay in Mussoorie. The duo were scheduled to visit Visakhapatnam for Sudhakar’s birthday on Wednesday. “We had talked to her on Sunday night, when both of them talked to us about their stay in Uttarakhand,” Sudhakar, a retired Army man, said.The couple had gotten married in November. Gayatri’s friend and Sricharan’s cousin introduced them to each other. Sricharan’s family, originally from Visakhapatnam, has been based in Delhi since 1989, says his father, Durga Prasad.ALSO READ | An Instagram story, a locked door, and the chilling Bengaluru murder plot that unravelled in hours“She was working in Hyderabad and he in Pune. When they got acquainted, they informed us, and they got married. Their engagement ceremony was in October, and in November, they had their wedding,” said Prasad. Gayatri moved to her in-laws’ house in Delhi after the wedding, and got a job in Gurgaon soon after.Cause of death yet to be determinedStory continues below this adPolice said that during questioning, the husband said that both of them had consumed alcohol during the night and had gone to their room at around 3.30 am. When he woke up in the morning, he found his wife unconscious.The body was sent to the district hospital for post-mortem examination on Tuesday. During the post-mortem, no external injury marks were found on the body. For further scientific examination and determination of the exact cause of death, the doctors have preserved the viscera for forensic analysis.“The deceased’s father, P Sudhakar, has submitted an application seeking an investigation into the cause of death. Based on this application, a thorough inquiry is being conducted from all angles. A conclusion regarding the cause of death can only be drawn after receipt of the post-mortem report, viscera examination report, and other scientific evidence,” said police.Mussoorie Circle Officer Jagdish Pant said that a few strips of various medicines were found at the spot, which have been collected as evidence. “We found glasses and bottles, and collected these samples. The viscera have been preserved during autopsy and sent for toxicological analysis. We will ascertain what she had consumed before her death,” Pant said.Story continues below this adThe Mussoorie station-in-charge, Devender Singh Chauhan, said that the woman had been receiving treatment for low blood pressure. He said that they collected all the materials from the spot to establish a sequence of events.Aiswarya Raj is a Senior Correspondent for The Indian Express, covering Uttarakhand. She brings sound journalistic experience to her role, having started her career at the organisation as a sub-editor with the Delhi city team. She subsequently developed her reporting expertise by covering Gurugram and its neighbouring districts before transitioning to her current role as a resident correspondent in Dehradun. She is an alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) and the University of Kerala. She has reported on the state politics, governance, environment and wildlife, and gender. Aiswarya has undertaken investigations using the Right to Information Act on law enforcement, public policy and procurement rules in Uttarakhand. She has also attempted narrative journalism on socio-economic matters affecting local communities. This specific, sustained focus on critical regional news provides the necessary foundation for high trustworthiness and authoritativeness on topics concerning Uttarakhand. ... Read More Tags:Mussoorie