Kasaragod: District Collector Arjun Pandian on Monday directed the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) to conduct an inquiry into the death of Ashalatha Athirukuzhi (41), a senior clerk with the Endosulfan Cell, and vowed strict action against anyone found responsible for circumstances that may have led her to take the extreme step.

Pandian said the ADM’s inquiry would be conducted in parallel with the Vidyanagar police investigation.

According to a press release from the collectorate, Ashalatha told police that she consumed poison because she felt "isolated at home and office".

On Friday, August 7, she went to the gym as usual. But according to her statement, she consumed poison around 10 am, and then she drove herself to a cooperative hospital at Chengala in the afternoon. She was later shifted to a private hospital in Kozhikode, where she died on Sunday, August 9.

Vidyanagar police took Ashalatha's statement at the Chengala hospital. "The reason for taking this step was that I felt isolated both at home and at the office. Due to the mental stress caused by this, I had been mentally distressed for the past few days. I have no complaints against anyone. I decided to die of my own accord and did this myself," she told police, according to the government release.

Ashalatha was earlier with the Establishment section of the Revenue Department. After the change in government, she was moved to the Endosulfan Cell on May 12. A senior official at the collectorate said the two sections were in the same building.

Officials in charge of the Endosulfan Cell said she had been performing her duties well, according to the press statement.

A WhatsApp status posted by Ashalatha, mother of two, on the day she consumed poison had also drawn attention among those who knew her. The message read, “My silence is the last courtesy I extended to you.”

The District Collector said strict action would be taken if the ADM's inquiry finds anyone responsible for her death.