Three decomposing bodies found in car fallen in nullah in Shahapur

Preliminary investigation suggests the car is registered in Mumbai, and the police are trying to establish how the vehicle veered off the road and ended up in the nullah

MUMBAI: Three decomposing bodies were found on Thursday in a car that had fallen into a nullah near Umbermali village along the Mumbai-Nashik highway. Police suspect an accident took place five days ago but went unnoticed as the car was concealed by dense vegetation.

Representative image of a car accident (HT Photo)

On Thursday, when a woman from the village was grazing her cattle, she noticed the half-submerged car and a foul smell emanating from it. She informed the villagers who then alerted the police. A team from the Kasara police department and personnel from the disaster management unit reached the spot and found the three bodies inside the vehicle in a highly decomposed state.

The deceased have been identified as Yadnesh Waghela, a resident of Khar, Pravin Kumar Singh, 27, from Powai, and Rajabali Sheikh, 29, from Kurla. All three were close friends and had left Mumbai on the night of June 2, for Trimbakeshwar in Nashik.

Preliminary investigation suggests the car is registered in Mumbai, and the police are trying to establish how the vehicle veered off the road and ended up in the nullah. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem, and forensic experts are being consulted to determine the exact cause of death and to rule out any possibility of foul play.

Yadnesh, who worked at a call centre, had informed his family about the trip, while the other two had not told their families about their destination and had said that they would return in a couple of hours or later that night. When they failed to return, their families registered missing person complaints at the Khar, Vinoba Bhave, and Powai police stations.