Mumbai: Traffic constable foils suicide bid on Bandra-Worli Sea Link

Police and toll plaza personnel attempt to reason with the woman who ventured onto the Bandra Worli Sea Link on Tuesday. Pics/Ashish Raje

An alert constable, attached to Bandra traffic division, foiled the suicide attempt of a 40-year-old woman who was rescued after a dramatic 100-metre chase on Bandra Worli Sea Link on Tuesday.

The woman, whose identity is being withheld, is a homemaker from Lokhandwala, Kandivli East.

Sources in the Bandra traffic division told mid-day that the woman had come to Bandra on a two-wheeler around 11 am on January 30, when Ganesh Patil, the traffic constable, stopped her proceeding towards the Bandra Worli Sea Link.

"She was driving recklessly on the road, but our on-duty rider stopped her as two-wheelers are not allowed on the Bandra Worli Sea Link," said a senior police officer attached to Bandra traffic division.

"The woman stopped her scooter and parked it next to the busy road only to start briskly walking on the path towards the bridge. Before our constable reacted, the woman crossed the toll plaza and later she started to run," the officer added.

Recalling the short-lived drama, Patil said, "After she crossed the toll plaza on foot, I started to run and told toll staffers and trainee police personnel to stop the woman."

"After a 100-metre-long chase, we managed to catch her but she looked very disturbed," Patil added.

When police personnel as well as toll plaza staffers were chasing the woman on the south-bound arm of the Bandra Worli Sea Link, motorists had slowed down their vehicles to witness the dramatic scene. After a brief halt of the traffic, the busy stretch was cleared.

"We tried to find out what was wrong with the woman and why she wanted to end her life, but she did not reveal anything to us. We offered her tea, water and snacks and tried to cheer her up," said a traffic police officer.

"We are not sure whether she had planned to jump off the bridge or wanted to get crushed under speeding wheels, but, fortunately, the alertness of our man in white foiled the suicide attempt," said a senior traffic police officer.

The woman did not even give the contact number of her relatives to the police. "But with the help of the registration number of her scooter, we managed to reach out to her husband, who immediately arrived at the spot from Kandivli," the officer added.

Meanwhile, the senior officials from the traffic division had alerted their counterparts at Bandra police station from where a police van arrived on the Sea Link and took the woman to the police station, but she was allowed to go later.

mid-day has learnt that the woman was reeling under a domestic issue about which her relatives did not share with the cops. She is undergoing treatment at a hospital in the city.