A family of three, a teen and his parents, died after falling from a hill in Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district on Friday after a dispute over iPhone EMI payments.
The incident took place under the Waluj MIDC police station limits.
The 18-year-old, identified as Kunal Shandwade, reportedly was attempting to jump off the hill on Friday.
According to an eyewitness, Sanjay Jadhave, the teen came to the cliff and sat there from 10 am to 1 pm and refused to move. His mother, Sangeeta Chandgude and father, Murlidhar Chandgude (48 were reportedly trying to persuade him to get down from the cliff.
"I was present there along with the police. However, the young man was in no state to listen to anyone. He kept shifting his position while continuing to speak with his mother,” Jadhav said.
Jadhav was among those trying to plead with the teen to get off the cliff.
He said that he tried to reason with him and told him to think of his mother. The Sarpanch also offered to get him an iPhone.
However, the teen refused and said, “There is no solution now. There is only one solution.
His mother pleaded with him and begged him not to do this, but he was in no mood to listen. He was battling depression. For nearly three hours, I tried to reason with him and persuade him to come down,” Jadhav said.
The sarpanch said that when the teenager’s father arrived, he reportedly tried to grab him while Kunal suddenly jumped.
“Eventually, his father also arrived. We thought his father would be able to convince him and bring him down safely. But within minutes, his father tried to grab him, and in the process, both the youth and his father fell. Following this, his mother also jumped,” Jadhav told ANI.
The three died within minutes of each other at around 1 pm on Friday.
Fire brigade teams had deployed safety nets below the cliff. However, the teen made their efforts complicated by moving across the edge of the cliff.
Residents said that Kunal was in distress after his parents refused to get him an expensive phone.
Police commissioner Pravin said that they were trying to establish a sequence of events.
DCP Ratnakar Navale said that the family belonged to Dhangar Pimpalgaon village in Jalna.
Their bodies have been sent for a post-mortem, and an investigation is underway.
