Dubai-based travel influencer Anunay Sood stands in front of luxury cars at the Wynn Concours event in November 2025, prior to his passing from an accidental overdose. (Photo: anunaysood / Instagram)
LAS VEGAS – New surveillance video obtained by KLAS-TV has revealed the casino floor drug deal at Wynn Las Vegas that led to the death of Anunay Sood, a 32-year-old Indian social media influencer with nearly 1.5 million Instagram followers. Based on that footage and grand jury testimony, a Clark County grand jury indicted Thamrong Hill, 49, on second-degree murder charges on May 22, 2026. This will be one of the first cases in Nevada to involve a murder charge connected to a fentanyl-laced drug sale.
Sood, who was named one of Forbes India’s “Top 100 Digital Stars,” died hours after using what he thought was cocaine in his hotel room at the Wynn. He purchased the substance for $40 from 49-year-old Las Vegas resident Thamrong Hill.
Sood had traveled from India with his fiancée, Shivani Parihar, and met up with their friend Meher Chahal to attend the Las Vegas Concours d'Elegance, an exclusive luxury car show held at the Wynn at the end of October. Wynn management had personally extended the invitation to Sood, whose social media reach made him a prime guest for the event. The group of three checked in on October 28, but not all three made it to their departure on November 4.
On the evening of November 3, Sood told his companions he wanted to obtain drugs before the group returned home. According to a report from The Clark County Coroner’s office, all three were on the Wynn casino floor at 5 a.m. on November 4, when Parihar approached Hill at a slot machine to ask how to obtain “party poppers.”
"At first he said for $50, and then he said whatever you have, so $40," Parihar said in her virtual testimony in front of a grand jury. She also said Hill described it as "the best cocaine."
Sood and Parihar went to a nearby ATM to withdraw cash, and Parihar discreetly completed the transaction with Hill. Video footage obtained by KLAS-TV shows Parihar removing a small bag from her purse while in the elevator with the other two, as the three returned to a hotel room upstairs.
Chahal said she was immediately suspicious of the substance since it “looked like sugar” and was very fine and white. Both women testified that they had already been drinking heavily throughout the evening and that their judgment was impaired by the time they returned to the room. According to the testimony, Sood snorted some of the powdered substance and applied a small amount to Parihar's gums. All three lost consciousness following consuming the drug.
Chahal woke up “on the floor in a floppy position” and saw Parihar slumped off a chair, but Sood was unresponsive. He had blue lips and was breathily abnormally heavy.
The women proceeded to call first responders and were later transported to Sunrise Hospital. Sood, on the other hand, could not be revived even after receiving multiple doses of Narcan (naloxone).
Investigators searched the hotel room and recovered the bag of white powder along with beer cans, champagne bottles, a rolled bill, and powdered residue from three lines on the table. A second bag found under a cushion hat turned out to be ketamine, but investigators say it may have been left by a prior guest.
A member of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's overdose response team told KLAS-TV that he identified the substance almost immediately from its appearance.
"Usually with powder cocaine, we see it to be a little bit brighter white," the detective said. "What we notice with fentanyl, it almost kind of looks — it has a drywall kind of texture to it. That's what this looked like."
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid drug that can be lethal at doses as small as two milligrams, and it shows up in substances sold as cocaine, MDMA, and other street drugs. The problem is particularly acute in Southern Nevada, considering that death by overdose has increased over the last eight years, according to research by Healthy Southern Nevada. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says that fentanyl remains the leading cause of death among Americans aged 18-45 years old, despite harm reduction methods like Narcan being more accessible than ever.
Hill was arrested weeks later in December 2025 when officers found him on Fremont Street selling and in possession of fentanyl and methamphetamine, unrelated to the incident with Sood. He was taken into custody at that time and has remained in custody since.
In addition to the second-degree murder charge, Hill faces felony counts of selling or transporting a controlled substance and possession with intent to sell. He has a prior criminal history that includes multiple robbery convictions from 1997 and 2006, for which he served prison time and was released in 2017.
Both Parihar and Chahal testified virtually for a Clark County grand jury from India. Sood's death got heavy media attention in India shortly after his passing, given his social media presence. Hill’s next court date in this case is scheduled for June 18.
Vanessa is a news writer who brings hospitality industry insight and sharp storytelling to her editorial work for Casinos.com. She graduated from UNLV with a degree in journalism, and has experience working in the Las Vegas gaming and entertainment industry with Station Casinos and Wynn Resorts. She is passionate about staying informed on what’s happening in the world and finds story ideas not only scouring the web, but also by hitting the pavement and exploring the city she loves. When not living the casino high-life, you might find her in a quiet corner somewhere reading a good manga.
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