AHMEDABAD: About 5km away from the chief minister's office, Swarnim Sankul, a man died due to the severe cold on Friday night.
The 38-year-old man, Vikram Solanki, an autorickshaw driver, was found dead near Charedi village in Gandhinagar on Saturday morning, said police officers, adding that he died due to the severe cold. A Sector 21 police officer said a passerby saw the body lying on the side of the road near a slum in Charedi village early on Saturday morning and called police.
Earlier, it seemed like someone may have killed him but there were no signs of a scuffle or injury marks on his body. "We identified him as Vikram Solanki, who lived in slums near the Gujarat State Textbook Board office in Sector 24. He worked as an autorickshaw driver at night and as an electrician," said a Sector 21 police officer.
The officer said Solanki is survived by his wife and two children. He left home on Friday evening and did not return till early on Saturday morning. After his body was found from Charedi, police informed his family.
Prima facie, the inquiry suggests that the arteries of his heart were constricted which happens due to exposure to extreme cold, said an officer. PI M B Bharwad of Sector 21 police said a case of accidental death has been registered and a postmortem was conducted at Gandhinagar Civil Hospital.
Gujarat has been witnessing unusually cold weather for the past week.