NAVI MUMBAI: A software engineer from Kalewadi in Pune died after falling 600 feet off a cliff in Tamhini Ghat on Thursday evening.
The software engineer,
Pranay Pawar
(30), was riding a bike to
Mahad
, where he was to attend a religious function. The
accident
took place at a
selfie
point, which falls under the Mangaon police jurisdiction of Raigad.
Locals alerted the police after witnessing an abandoned bike, a backpack with a laptop and documents nearby, and a cellphone on the safety wall of the ghat.
A seven-member rescue team reached the spot following a call from the police. The team included assistant police inspector
ND Lahange
with constables
RS Pawar
and others.
Rescuers, after descending around 600 feet, saw Pawar's dead body stuck in a tree around a high-risk area. The rescuers could not reach him as they were 50 feet away from the body. Rescuers used anchor hooks attached to the victim's pants and shirt to lift his body to a safe place.
If it weren't for the tree, the body would have fallen another 600 feet into the gorge,
Sushil Kasare
, a rescuer, told TOI.
He said the Mangaon police, along with the help of the Garudmaachi rescue team, completed the operation past midnight. "The victim's frequently ringing cellphone on the safety wall helped us reach out to his wife and members of his family. The exact reason behind the incident is under investigation," ND Lahange, assistant inspector of the police, told TOI.
According to the police, the victim was heading to his native place in Mahad to meet his mother, who had arrived earlier in Mahad. Pawar is survived by his wife, also a software engineer, whom he married a year ago, and both were residing in Pune with the victim's family.
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