Dinesh Kamath's news item 'Alcohol overdose leads to a Nigerian’s death' that was published in Newsband

Alcohol overdose leads to a Nigerian’s death

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: A Navi Mumbai-based Nigerian national had gone to Pune with his friends. They attended a party over there. This Nigerian happened to consume too much alcohol and this resulted in his falling unconscious. His friends, consisting of five men and two women, were frightened and they rushed him to Inamdar Hospital in Pune Cantonment area. But the Nigerian breathed his last at the hospital. His friends became panicky and they just abandoned him there and fled to Mumbai.

A post-mortem of the dead Nigerian was conducted at Pune's Sassoon General Hospital. The report said that he had died of alcohol overdose. The name of the Nigerian is Mbamara Chideara Festus (28).

On investigation, it was found that the party was held at Hotel Shalimar in Kondhwa. It was one of the Nigerian's friends, identified as Chukwuma, who had taken him to the hospital along with six others. His death made them panic because they feared that they might have to face police action since they didn’t possess their passports. They even abandoned their car in Kondhwa. But once they returned to Mumbai they got in contact with the police.

Festus, who hails from Nigeria, lived in Sector 9 in Vashi. He dealt in garments with his elder stepbrother Paul Chima (31) and was in India on a business visa. His friends are also from Navi Mumbai and are mostly Nigerians. They had gone to Pune in two cars on Friday. The police are investigating whether Festus had consumed narcotics since he was found smoking too while having a drink.

A case of accidental death has been registered.