A 48-year-old man was found dead in a hotel room at Ganeshpeth on Wednesday. The body of J Varghese, an engineer who was supposed to
appear for an interview at a Butibori-based manufacturing company, was found after a cleaner forced entry into the room on not getting any reply to his repeated knocks in the morning.
Police said Varghese, a native of Kerala, had arrived in the city to appear for a job interview. He checked into the hotel on Monday night after which he had also ordered dinner. On the following morning, he is learnt to have refused to let the cleaner in his room. Police said that there were no indications of his movements since that time.
"There were around 99 missed calls on his cell phone," said a cop who contacted the family after retrieving his son Robin's number from it. Police claimed that the family members were not in the position to furnish any plausible reason for the death.
Senior police inspector S S Gadekar, in-charge of Ganeshpeth police station, said that prima facie it seems to be a case of self poisoning. "There was a glass and jug beside his body. It seems he had consumed something which killed him. There were no traces of any container for poison anywhere in the room. His face and body had turned black and also swelled up. Whatever he may have consumed, it was intense enough to kill him," said Gadekar.
The preliminary probe has rejected any foul play. "The door was locked from inside, as the cleaner had to use a lot of force to open it," said Gadekar, adding that post mortem report would be crucial in the case.
Meanwhile, Varghese's family members alerted two acquaintances in the city after the death was reported to them by the police. The two persons reached the hotel and spoke to the police.
The cops, who have registered a case of accidental death, said they are not ruling out the possibility of natural death, since Varghese was apparently dependent on various medicines, which were found among his belongings.