A 22-year-old youth working as a telecaller with an insurance firm in Sector V died after choking on noodles at a roadside stall on Monday evening.

Guddu Shaw was rushed to Bidhannagar Sub-divisional Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. A preliminary post-mortem revealed presence of food particles in his windpipe, said a doctor at the hospital.

“The youth also had a tumour in the frontal lobe of his brain and was suffering from migraine. When the food got stuck in the windpipe, it possibly resulted in respiratory distress that led to a fall in the oxygen saturation level in his brain. That in turn might have led to cardiac arrest,” the doctor said.

Police said the Entally resident and a colleague were eating at a stall outside his office near College More in Sector V around 5pm.

“According to witnesses, he was eating hurriedly and suddenly started coughing violently. He drank water and then fell on the road and passed out. The colleague called some other employees who took him to hospital, where he was declared dead,” said an officer of the Electronic Complex police station.

The police have taken samples of leftover noodles and sent them for forensic tests.

Guddu’s father Bhagwan Shaw has written to Ajoy Prasad, the additional deputy commissioner of police, Bidhannagar, requesting him to “thoroughly probe” the matter.

“The father has not lodged any complaint but only gave us an intimation. We have started an unnatural death case,” said Prasad. An officer said they were checking the call records of the colleague who was with Guddu at the stall.