In a first-of-its-kind incident, at least publicly reported case in Hyderabad, a BTech student has died due to a drug overdose. Of late, the drug menace has increased in the city to the point that Hyderabad city police have put up ‘say no to drugs’ boards in popular restaurants, clubs, and pubs.

The Excise department has been trying to end the drug menace by conducting raids and frequent checks, but the drug peddling hasn’t stopped as the police and excise department have been able to catch only the small peddlers as the big sharks operate from other big cities or countries.

The deceased was going to Goa to get drugs, and within a week, he developed severe health conditions. After suspecting a case of drug abuse, his parents admitted him to a hospital in the city, where he succumbed to overdose.

However, the Hyderabad police immediately jumped into action and are trying to find out more details about the case. They have found that apart from the deceased, there were eight others who frequented Goa for drugs. In all, four students and five DJs have been identified, and all of them have been admitted to the hospital.

While all of them have been in hospital for the past eight days, the BTech student died after suffering from brain strokes, according to doctors treating him. It has been found that he has been taking drugs thrice a day, which led to an overdose and his subsequent death.

When the police rounded up peddlers who bring drugs from Goa for clients in Hyderabad, they got to know about the rest of the gang. Already CM KCR has given strict directives to both police and excise departments to adopt a two-pronged strategy to tackle the drug menace. One is to find drug addicts and help them get rehabilitation and counsel parents of such youth. The second is to find links between drug peddlers through addicts and completely eradicate the problem for a safe and secure city.