The incident

“Manjula had gone to drop her grandchildren to the school bus on Wednesday morning. She stopped under a tamarind tree to pluck flowers for worship. The strong wind, followed by rain, caused the tree to fall,” said a woman who was present at the spot.

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Police authorities during the search operation to find the victim. Pics/Hanif Patel

“After the initial search operation, her son Suresh Jha registered a missing person’s complaint at Arnala police station. We had been searching for her but she was not found anywhere,” said Vijay Patil, senior inspector of Arnala police station. On Thursday, Manjula’s sons had started to scan CCTV cameras in the vicinity. “My mother was seen on the CCTV footage returning. After reaching the tamarind tree, she was not visible, so I suspected she might have gotten trapped under the branches,” said Naresh.

The elder son Suresh Jha said, “My mother was our pillar of strength. My father passed away nearly 20 years ago. She would go for a jog in the morning and return home by 7.30 am. But on June 19, when she did not come back we got alarmed. Initially, we didn’t anticipate any mishap so I went to work. However, when I heard that she hadn’t returned home even by the afternoon, I rushed back.  We even made an announcement at the railway station in case she was there, as she had planned to go to Kashimira to meet our old neighbours,” said Suresh. “The body was so badly decomposed that her eyes were out of the socket. It had started to emanate a foul smell. Who is responsible for that?”

Foul smell was from human

Local residents told mid-day that the body was highly decomposed. “The relatives of an elderly woman (Manjula) came to this place in the morning (Friday) and began a search operation. Suddenly, I heard that one woman was trapped under the tree. She was not visible due to the branches and the garbage that was thrown in the area,” said a local resident.

Funeral pyre of the victim, Manjula Jha

When asked if anyone noticed a foul smell in the surroundings as the body was lying unattended when it rained intermittently amidst intolerable humidity, a woman said, “Rodents often die in the area and we are used to such smell, not realising it was a human being this time” said a woman. The Arnala police have registered an accidental death report (ADR) in connection with the matter. mid-day tried to reach out to VVCMC commissioner Anil Pawar, but he did not respond to the calls and messages.