3 Gujarat villagers playing cards flee mistaking visitors for police, drown in well

Bhavnagar SP Nitesh Pandey said around 11 men had gathered to play cards in a field of the village when an unidentified vehicle approached.

Published on: Aug 18, 2026, 18:41:01 IST

By Maulik Pathak, Ahmedabad

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Three men died late on Monday after falling into an open well while fleeing what they believed was a police raid on a late-night card game in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district, police said.

The victims were identified by the police as Rahul Popatbhai Chauhan, 35; Nilesh Dabhi, 37; and Ajitsinh, 45. A fourth man who fell into the well survived.

Police said the incident took place in Ukharla village in Ghogha taluka.

Bhavnagar superintendent of police (SP) Nitesh Pandey said around 11 men had gathered to play cards in a field of the village when an unidentified vehicle approached. Fearing police officers were about to conduct a raid, the players ran in the dark, and some fell into an open agricultural well.

“They thought it was the police and ran. There was a well in the field and they couldn’t see it in the dark. Three persons have died,” Pandey said, underlining that the police hadn’t conducted a raid in the village.

The bodies were found by the police on Tuesday morning after the control room received a call reporting a body. Police officials said a search was carried out with the help of villagers, and three bodies were found in the well.

At the hospital, family members of the victims said the deaths occurred due to a police raid.

Pandey reiterated that there was nothing on record to indicate such a raid. “So far there is no gambling case or on-record case. No offence has been registered, and there is no mention that there was a raid by any police,” he said, adding that an investigation was underway to identify who had showed up at the spot last night.

The police officer said whoever confronted the group had used abusive words telling them not to run, something that would not have happened in a police raid. “If it was really the police, there wouldn’t be a warning like that,” Pandey said adding that this account is based on statements from those present.

Card games are a common sight in Gujarat’s villages during the Shravan month, in the run-up to Janmashtami festival.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maulik Pathak
He is an Ahmedabad-based journalist with more than two decades of experience. His career spans business journalism and general news, with reporting across politics, crime, governance, public policy, business, industry, infrastructure, energy, ports, aviation, the environment, wildlife and social issues. He began his career in feature writing before moving into business journalism, reporting on companies and sectors including energy, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and real estate. Over the years, his work expanded to politics, courts, crime, public policy, civic affairs, the environment and wildlife. His reporting has taken him from government offices and courtrooms to factory floors, ports, forests and remote villages, covering stories that range from industrial investments and financial markets to elections, conservation and issues affecting everyday life. While many assignments demand the pace of the daily news cycle, others require sustained reporting over months and years to follow developments beyond the headlines. He started his journalism career with the Asian Age in Ahmedabad in 2002 as a feature writer and sub-editor. Since 2022, he has been working with Hindustan Times. Earlier, he worked with Business Standard, DNA, The Economic Times, Mint and The Times of India. His longest stint was with Mint, where he spent more than eight years reporting across multiple beats. During his career, he has worked in both reporting and editing roles, contributing to page planning, local editions and special editorial projects as newsrooms evolved from print-first operations to digital publishing. Early in his career, he also worked on media and documentary projects with an NGO and as a copywriter at a communications agency before returning to journalism. Away from work, he sometimes makes time for a pair of binoculars, table tennis, cinema and the occasional poem.Read More

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