A man fell from the terrace of a building near the Vakola police station under mysterious circumstances. Residents and eyewitnesses are unsure that he committed suicide, and claim that he may have been pushed to his death.
The deceased, identified as Anil Rao, fell from a four-storey building at around 12 pm yesterday. His family is untraceable, and not much is known about the person.u00a0
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Three youths who witnessed the incident rushed him to a nearby hospital, but doctors pronounced him dead an hour after the incident. Police have not identified the man, but stated that he was in his 30s. The circumstances surrounding Rao’s death remain unknown, but locals who had spotted him standing on the terrace, which doesn’t have a boundary wall, with his hands on his hips, are alleging foul play. Vijay Gade, a resident of the building, said, “When I was returning from work, I saw him walking on the terrace. I thought he was a cable technician doing some work.”
According to eyewitnesses, there was suddenly a loud noise and when they looked up they saw the person hanging from a tree. “He first fell on the tree, and tried to hold on to it, but the branch couldn’t hold his weight and it snapped. He fell on my bike and then landed on the ground. The events leading to his fall are suspicious,” added Gade.
Chaos ensued, as residents from the colony and locals gathered. Within minutes of the incident three youths — Tushar, Digham, Anish — picked up Rao, and rushed him to V N Desai Hospital. They allege that the person could have been saved, but negligence of doctors at the hospital and laziness of the police led to his death.
They added that there was no doctor at the hospital, when they took him there. Nearly 30 minutes later, the doctors decided that the patient should be shifted to a bigger hospital. However, due to indecision on the part of the cops, 20 more minutes were wasted, and Rao succumbed to his injuries. An eyewitness stated that Rao was trying to utter something, but died before he could say it.
On the alleged negligence on the part of hospital, a doctor, on condition of anonymity, said, “It is baseless. We provided him first aid treatment. However, he had received severe internal injuries, and it was hard for him to survive.”
According to a source within the police department, Rao was standing on the terrace for sometime and was seen walking. But, most importantly before the fall he was standing still at the edge of the terrace for few minutes. “It may be case of suicide, as the distance between the building and the spot where he fell is at a significant distance,” said the police officer, on condition of anonymity. The Vakola police have sent the body to Cooper Hospital for a post mortem. u00a0