The detention of two Irishmen in connection with the death of Anna Bartlett is the latest in a series of incidents to have sullied the backpacker paradise of Kullu Valley, writes David Orr in India
The whiff of drugs, alcohol, casual sex - the case has all the hallmarks that police in the Kullu district of northern India have come to expect of "decadent" Western travellers. And, as inquiries continue into the death of Englishwoman Anna Bartlett, the inclusion of another ingredient, murder, has yet to be ruled out.
At the centre of the investigation are two Irishmen, Adrian Breathnach and Frank James, currently in detention in Kullu jail.
Though they have not yet been charged, the two - Breathnach (40), from Tipperary, and James (46), from south Dublin - are being held in connection with the death of the 25-year old Englishwoman from Southend. They could face charges of murder or the lesser charge of manslaughter. They could also face charges of having attempted to conceal and destroy evidence relating to her death. Bartlett was found dead in the River Beas in Himachal Pradesh state on the morning of October 2nd.
The Kullu Valley is no stranger to misadventure, mystery or indeed murder. A number of violent deaths and the unexplained disappearance of a score of backpackers over the past decade and a half have earned it such tags as "Death Valley" and "India's Bermuda Triangle". It is also known as India's premier cannabis- producing area. More often than not, drugs play a part in the dramas that unfold there.
The young and the footloose are drawn to the region by the beautiful Himalayan scenery, the cheap cost of living and the high quality of the hashish. They come in all guises - students, hikers, hippies, New Age travellers, dropouts, dope heads . . .
Whatever the reasons for the two Irishmen and the Englishwoman being in the Kullu Valley, it would seem that drugs played a significant role in her death. Bartlett travelled to India three months after she was released from prison in the United Arab Emirates, where she served two years of a 10-year sentence for using, importing and intending to traffic cocaine and ecstasy in Dubai.
Bartlett died in the Shiva Ashram guesthouse in Manali, a popular tourist town at the head of the Kullu Valley. The guesthouse is owned by a convicted drugs dealer, Lot Ram, who has recently finished serving a seven-year jail term for robbery.
Breathnach and James presented themselves at the Irish Embassy in New Delhi on October 6th, having heard they were being sought in connection with Bartlett's death. They returned to the mountains and reported to the Kullu police.
When Bartlett's body was found the death might have been dismissed there and then as a drugs overdose but for the fact that a post-mortem examination indicated that Bartlett had died from a head injury. The police are waiting for the results of a toxicology test, expected next week, before they decide whether to press charges.
Like many of those who spend time in Kullu - and some foreigners stay for months or even years - Breathnach has been to India at least twice before. When asked by police what he did for a living, he is said to have replied "a bit of this and a bit of that".
There is a whole "scene" around Kullu that is geared towards low-budget travellers from Europe, America, Australia and Israel. By day, they hang out in the numerous hippy-style cafés where the air is often thick with hashish smoke. At night, there are parties and occasionally "raves" featuring pounding techno music.
Accommodation is cheap and, for the energetic, there are stunning mountain treks and visits to Hindu shrines. There may not be a tropical island in sight but anyone who has read The Beach or seen the film of the same name will immediately get the picture.
As in The Beach, which ends in murder and disillusion, there is a dark side to the backpacker hedonism of Kullu. The Indian authorities confirm that at least 18 foreigners have disappeared there since the early 1990s.
Among them was Irishman Paul Roche, who mysteriously vanished from the area in 1995. Many, including security experts hired by distraught parents to look for their children, believe the real number of missing persons could be much higher.
There is little doubt that some of those who come to Kullu wish to "disappear". Some come to the region - the birthplace of Hindu cosmology and Buddhist mysticism - to seek enlightenment or oblivion. The most extreme or desperate throw away their possessions and assume the saffron robes of "sadhus" (or Hindu holy men), who wander from place to place, begging for alms and getting high on hashish. A few westerners have been known to retire to remote caves in the mountains.
It is generally agreed, however, that most of those who go missing have been killed. While most backpackers might not be wealthy by Western standards, they are generally far better off than most locals. A wad of foreign currency goes a long way in a region where a labourer's daily wage is less than €2. A number of gangs are thought to roam the mountains, preying on defenceless tourists.
Three years ago, British trekker Martin Young, his Spanish fiancée and her son were attacked as they slept in their tent in the mountains above Manali. Having been viciously beaten by their assailants, they were thrown down a deep ravine. The Spanish woman and her son died but Young survived to tell the tale.
Earlier in the year 2000, a German tourist was blasted to death in a shotgun attack and in 1997 an Israeli visitor was robbed and killed. Another Israeli went missing while trekking earlier this year near Manali and has not been seen since.
On one point local people are agreed: all the problems that have arisen in the area have been somehow connected with drugs. In the words of one hotelier, "drugs attract bad elements and these in turn bring trouble".
Since the arrival of the first hippies in northern India during the 1960s, the cultivation of cannabis (or "charas", as it is known locally) has become big business. It is now grown on a commercial scale in plots high up on the mountains. These plots are mostly owned by local farmers, though the dealers who buy the product come from outside.
The quantities consumed by visiting backpackers are relatively small - most of the aromatic black resin is transported for sale elsewhere in India and abroad.
The Indian police say the Kullu hashish business is controlled not by a single drugs baron but by different individuals and gangs operating in the area. Some racketeers are certainly local, though their leaders and main members are said to be Nepalis.
Other drug operations are run by westerners who have "dropped out" or settled in the area. Local people say the largest foreign "mafia" is made up of Israelis, who constitute more than half of the visitors to the region.
This is the weird and dislocated world in which Anna Bartlett, Adrian Breathnach and Frank James were living. Whatever its causes, her tragic death belongs to a whole catalogue of misery and misadventure in this part of the Himalayas.
For the two Irishmen who are embroiled in the case, their visit to this mountain wonderland has already had consequences more terrible than they could have imagined.
And this weekend, as they languish in an Indian jail, they must be contemplating the possibility that their ordeal could be far from over.