KOCHI: Officials attached to the Kuruppampady police station spent their Friday scrolling through Facebook and Instagram, following reports that a 24-year-old who was found dead in a house near Perumbavoor had made a live video on social media just before his death. Ashish Omanakuttan, a Pathanamthitta native who was working as a sales executive at a car showroom, was found hanging in his rented house near Puluvazhy LP School by a neighbour on Friday morning.
According to the police, the deceased had been depressed due to a romantic failure. “The neighbours told us Ashish was speaking to someone loudly on Thursday night. He was an engineering graduate. We have registered a case of unnatural death,” an officer said.
Meanwhile, after rumours emerged that the deceased went live on some social media platform just before his death, police officials began to search his Facebook and Instagram accounts. The officials, however, could not find any such video despite spending hours searching for it.
“There were reports that he recorded a video of his suicide. As his mobile phone was password-protected, we could not open it. To avoid any allegation regarding any kind of tampering in the future, we have decided to hand over the phone for a forensic examination. We will approach the court for this soon,” the official said.