Kharghar heatstroke deaths: ‘After 12-hour search, we found her body being dragged on a trolley’

A picture received by Swach Kharghar Foundation where Minakshi Mestry is seen lying on the road

Finding their missing loved ones after the Maharashtra Bhushan award ceremony tragedy on Sunday was a traumatic experience for family members. The son of a woman who attended the ceremony reveals the nightmare and how they found her body over 12 hours after she went missing. Minakshi Mestry, according to the doctor who performed the autopsy, died of acute renal failure caused by sunstroke.

However, her family feels something is amiss. A relative says they found blood in her nostrils and her family is wondering if she died in a stampede or of sunstroke. Minakshi had left with her friend Kiran to attend the ceremony at 5.30 am on Sunday. They later got separated in the crowd after the event at Kharghar, and Kiran managed to get out safely.

The picture shown by Kharghar police on a mobile phone to Vivek Mestry on Monday morning when he approached them about his missing mother and then was directed to MGM Hospital

Minakshi is survived by her husband and two sons. She was 58 and an Anganwadi teacher. The family resides at Om Nagar, Vasai West. Vivek Mestry, 33, Minakshi's son, said, "When my mother's mobile was not reachable, I started getting worried, and inquired with a friend, Atulan Ghosh, in CBD Belapur after watching the television news about the incident late Sunday evening, which had scared me and I requested him to look for her. He went to a few hospitals but did not find her."

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"She was missing even 12 hours after the event at Kharghar. We finally found her around 5.30 am on Monday at MGM Hospital, where her body, tagged unclaimed and unidentified, was being taken on a stretcher to the mortuary," said Vivek.

Approached the police

"Our father, Mohan Mestry, 65, a retired Naval dockyard employee, had undergone an angioplasty two years ago and we did not want him to take any stress. So late on Sunday night, I left for Navi Mumbai with my younger brother, Satish, 28, to look for our mother," said Vivek. He said, "Around 4.45 am, we reached Kharghar police station and checked their records of both the injured and dead. Then they showed me a photograph on a mobile phone, of unidentified victims. I felt one of them resembled our mother so they advised us to go to MGM Hospital, Kamothe."

Lakhs of people had attended the Maharashtra Bhushan award ceremony on Sunday. Pics/ Swach Kharghar Foundation

"At MGM Hospital, around 5.30 am, we learnt about an unidentified woman's body in an ambulance near the mortuary. We identified her, seeing her face, eyes, grey hair and green bangles with safety pins on her left hand. We found her mangalsutra, one earring and two gold bangles which the police had kept safely, but her wristwatch and other earring are missing," Vivek added.

The Mestry family is clueless about the circumstances that led to the death of Minakshi, as they said there were bloodstains around her nostrils and mouth. "We don't know if it was a stampede or she had heatstroke. She was healthy and had no ailments. My mother was also drinking lemon juice, and had used an umbrella through the programme while sitting besides Kiran at the event. All this was told to us by Kiran herself, who visited us on Monday night to offer condolences. But after the event, my mother and Kiran were caught in the crowd. While Kiran managed to get out, our mother did not," Vivek said.

Kiran was unaware about the demise of Minakshi till she received a message from a friend on Monday evening. She met Minakshi's family after they returned late in the night after the funeral. She was Minakshi's friend and only had her mobile number and not those of her family members and had kept dailling it after the incident. "We have every right to know what caused our mother's death. The truth needs to come out. We do not know who is responsible for the mishap, but it should not be repeated in future," said Vivek.

'Organisers were negligent'

Prashant Panchal, a relative of the Mestrys from Goregaon, stated, "It seems that there might have been a stampede and so my aunty [Minakshi] was bleeding from the nostrils. It is a clear case of negligence on the part of the event organisers." On Monday evening, a good Samaritan from Goregaon phoned the family informing them that he had found a bag belonging to Minakshi at the event venue. It had her ATM cards, mobile phone, some cash and other personal belongings and he would be returning them, said Panchal.

Doctor says

Dr Babaso Kalel, the medical superintendent at Uran Rural hospital did the autopsy on Minakshi on Monday morning. He clarified that in some cases of heat strokes due to severe dehydration, the pulmonary alveoli cells can rupture and cause internal bleeding in the lungs, which is called intra pulmonary haemorrhage. "When the victim is made to lie down, this blood moves towards the upper respiratory tract, facial area and neck. The blood is released through the nostrils. The cause of Minakshi's death was acute renal failure due to severe dehydration because of sunstroke," Dr Kalel revealed. Dr Kalel ruled out any probability of stampede in the case, as there were no antemortem or postmortem injuries to establish the same.