MUMBAI: The beat dropped, and then the bodies did. What was billed as a high-octane techno night at the Nesco exhibition centre in Goregaon ended not with an encore, but with a coroner. Two students, both 24 and pursuing MBAs at Mumbai’s elite Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), are dead. A third is clinging to life in a hospital bed. For the 4,000 revellers packed into the hall on April 11th, the strobe lights masked a grim reality: a lethal cocktail of synthetic highs and systemic lows.
The Vanrai police have wasted no time in pointing the finger at a “rave-style” atmosphere gone rogue. Preliminary probes suggest the victims—one from Lucknow, the other from Delhi—ingested MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy. The supply chain was modern, efficient and chillingly casual. Investigators claim the pills were sourced from a dealer in Kalyan, Anand Patel, and ferried to the venue via Porter, a logistics app better known for moving furniture than narcotics.
The dragnet has already snared six people. Patel is behind bars, alongside two students accused of acting as the group’s internal distributors. But the heat is also on the suits. Akash Samal, the event organiser, and officials from Nesco are facing charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The police allege a litany of lapses: non-existent drug frisking and a blatant disregard for licensing laws, with booze allegedly flowing to those well under the 25-year age limit.
The financial fallout is equally messy. While the tickets were pricey, the human cost is higher. Forensic experts at the Kalina lab are now dissecting viscera samples to confirm the toxicity levels. In a city where the “orange economy” of creative events is booming, this tragedy is a sharp reminder of the dark underbelly of Mumbai’s nightlife.
The music has stopped, the lights are up, and the police are just getting started. For the families of the deceased, the party ended in a morgue; for the organisers, the real nightmare is only beginning. The high was fleeting; the reckoning will be permanent.
