Vasai family immerses Ganesh idol with Rs 3-lakh gold crown

Sadanand Bhoir retrieves the gold crown (right). Pics/Hanif Patel

In a peculiar coincidence, a man who was rescued during the recent floods in Vasai, helped the relatives of his rescuer, to retrieve a gold crown that was accidently lost when their Ganesh idol was immersed. The strange happenings were set into motion on Saturday, and later that day the crown worth Rs 3 lakh was retrieved by the man who is a swimmer and professional diver.

In 2 hours, he brought up over 95 idols that had been immersed in a lake in Vasai, in search of the ornament.

Vivek Patil's cousin gives (right) Sadanand Bhoir a token of their gratitude

Vivek Patil, a former corporator, installs Gauri Ganesh at his residence every year at Vasai. On Saturday evening he learnt that his cousin's son, Sanjay Pandharinath Patil, 50, died of a heart attack. Due to the death the family decided to immerse their Ganesh idol the same day and asked neighbours to do so.

Bhoir offers help

Speaking to mid-day Patil said, "I informed the neighbours to immerse the Ganesh idol the same day as we were all at the hospital. They took the Ganesh idol and immersed it by 9 pm. We returned home at 11.00 pm and realised that we forgot to inform neighbours to remove the Ganesh's crown before visarjan. Sadanand Bhoir was a guest at our neighbour's house for Ganpati. When he learnt this, he offered to help. Bhoir brought up all the idols from the lake, over 95, and finally found our idol after 2 hours of search."

(left) Vivek Patil and his brother Naresh show the crown

Bhoir said, "I am a professional diver and swimmer. I started retrieving the idols one by one and showing them to the family to identify their idol. After 2 hours I found the correct idol. I returned the golden crown to the family and immersed the Ganesh idol into lake."

Strange coincidence

Incidentally, during the floods in Vasai this year due to heavy rain, Bhoir had been stuck in the village. That is when Patil's nephew, Sanjay Patil had dropped him outside the village in his car.

Patil further said, "This crown was made in 1997 when we started to install Ganesh idol at home. Every year we install Gauri Ganpati at home. This crown is the blessing of my father and family which was returned by Bhoir. We received our blessings back with the crown." The Patils gave Bhoir a token of their gratitude.

Rs 3 lakh
The cost of the crown made of gold