Tree fall kills 70-year-old woman in Virar, body found two days later

When Manjula didn’t return home by evening, the distressed family members started enquiring about her whereabouts in the area and also appealed on social media to inform them in case someone saw her. The next day, on Thursday, the family went to Arnala police station and filed a missing person complaint

Virar: A 70-year-old woman, Manjula Jha, who was reported missing since Wednesday, was found dead beneath the branches of a tamarind tree on Friday morning in Virar. The tree had collapsed on her during Wednesday’s heavy rainfall and since it did not obstruct the traffic, the civic body didn’t bother clearing it. When a foul smell started emitting under the branches, the police were alerted by residents and subsequently the partially decomposed body of Jha was pulled out.

Tree fall kills 70-year-old woman in Virar, body found two days later

The police said Manjula lived with her son, Mahesh Jha, at Rishabh Tower in Padmavati Nagar, Virar West. On the day of her disappearance, she had gone to drop her grandson off at school and upon returning, she decided to visit a temple. On the way, she stopped along the roadside to pluck flowers when it suddenly started raining and a heavy branch came crashing down on her.

When Manjula didn’t return home by evening, the distressed family members started enquiring about her whereabouts in the area and also appealed on social media to inform them in case someone saw her. The next day, on Thursday, the family went to Arnala police station and filed a missing person complaint.

“We assumed that she had forgotten the address of her son and might have wandered off due to age. So, we tracked her movements from the time she left her grandson to school,” said a police officer from the Arnala police station.

When the branches were removed, they found Jha’s body which had started decomposing. The body was sent to the hospital for postmortem. “We have registered an accidental death report and are investigating it further,” said the police officer.

Manjula’s son Mahesh said, “We have shifted recently to this neighbourhood. I am disappointed with VVMC as they did not even bother to clear the fallen tree. Had they done it, my mother could have been found earlier,” said Naresh.

When contacted the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation officials said that as monsoon approached, they cut 35 trees that had dried and appeared to be dangerous and had trimmed 2,500 in Virar west. “The tamarind tree looked healthy from the outside. However, after inspection we found that the roots of the tree had weakened and fell during the spell of heavy rains and gusty winds on Wednesday morning,” said a VVMC official.

Several areas had reported tree fall incidents on Wednesday and the fire brigade and NDRF teams reached the spots to ensure safety of residents. The officials said they saw that the roof and sidewall of a few houses were broken due to the fallen tree. “Many residents had gone to drop off their kids to their schools and others had left for work. After checking around the tree, we did not find anyone there and since no one was missing, we were carrying out the work to remove the tree, but the branches were heavy,” said Dilip Palav, VVMC fire brigade chief.