2 college students found dead at a construction site in Bolinj

The police did not find any note left behind by the deceased or recover their mobile phones, making their deaths seem mysterious

MUMBAI: Two 20-year-old college students were found dead on the ground floor of an under-construction, 18-storey building in Bolinj, Virar West, late on Monday night. While the police said the men appeared to have died by suicide, their parents alleged they were killed.

The 20-year-olds were found dead at an under-construction building site in Virar. Police suspect they died by suicide.

Suhas Bavche, deputy commissioner of police, Arnala, said the security guard at the construction site heard a loud thud from the other side of the building around 10.30pm on Monday, after all the workers had left. Upon inspection, he found the two men lying in a pool of blood on the front side of the building.

“The security guard immediately called the police, and a team reached the spot within four minutes,” said Bavche. “The team faced difficulties in identifying the deceased as they did not have mobile phones or any other documents. However, the men were identified based on the number plate of a two-wheeler they used to arrive at the spot,” added Bavche. The bodies were sent for autopsy to a civic hospital, but later shifted to JJ Hospital for post-mortem.

Both deceased were later identified as residents of Achhole and final-year college students. The police did not find any note left behind by the deceased or recover their mobile phones, making their deaths seem mysterious.

The police have registered an accidental death report (ADR) in connection with the incident. “The reasons why they died by suicide are not yet clear. We are recording statements of their classmates and friends to find out whether they were facing any problems,” said senior police inspector Vijay Patil of the Arnala Sagari police station.

The family members of the deceased, however, refused to believe that it was a case of suicide. “These are not suicides, but murders,” alleged the father of one of them. On Monday afternoon, his son brought his friend, the other deceased, to their house, the father said. They had tea and left around 3.30pm, saying they were going to visit Vrindavan Udyan with a third friend. But when his son did not return home even after two hours, the father began calling and searching for them.

The parents then approached the police, who then registered a missing persons’ complaint. Around 11pm, the father said, the police asked the family to come to the civic hospital. “We were told that my son had met with an accident,” he said. He added that he saw their dead bodies and asserted that it was not likely for two young men to die by suicide like this. “It must be murder.”

The police, on the other hand, said they found nobody else at the spot. “We reached the spot within four minutes, and the time taken to climb down 16 floors would be roughly 10 minutes. We did not find any third person there. We are now checking the CCTV footage installed by the builder at the site,” said Patil.

The police are presently questioning one of the friends of the deceased, who allegedly went out with the two, but he claimed that he had not been in touch with the deceased for over a month.

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