Drunk MP man cooks up robbery story after falling into well with bike

Indore: Scared of facing his wife after steering his two-wheeler into a 30-ft well during a ride back home in a drunken state, a cook sent the police chasing imaginary robbers across treacherous village routes after falsely claiming that he was ambushed and assaulted by looters along the way.

The bizarre incident was reported from the Simrol police station area of Madhya Pradesh.

However, as it later turned out, the sleuths were only chasing ghosts as the complainant, Sanjay Yadav, had cooked up a story that he was waylaid by robbers, beaten up and thrown into the well when he had actually driven his bike straight into the deep end while speaking on the phone.

Police registered a case of robbery and attempted murder which eventually turned out to be an unusual tale of alcohol, reckless riding, CCTV clues and a poorly-scripted cover-up.

The cook was rescued by villagers from the well on Saturday morning, nearly six hours later after he fell into it.

Injured and shaken, he told police that three men waylaid him near an onion warehouse Friday late night, attacked him with sticks, snatched his bike and mobile phone and pushed him into the well before fleeing.

DSP Umakant Choudhary said police initially treated the matter as genuine, as Sanjay had been found in the waters inside the well, injured.

Multiple police teams were formed and CCTV footage from nearby village routes was scanned to trace the alleged attackers.

However, investigators soon found inconsistencies in his narration of events. Sanjay failed to identify the villager, who allegedly tried to stop him on the road, and the sequence of events he described did not match the footage collected by the police.

Further probe revealed that Sanjay had consumed liquor at a roadside dhaba before the incident. CCTV footage from a turn near the spot later showed him riding while talking on his mobile phone. His call detail records also confirmed that he was on a call at the time.

Police said the road where the incident occurred is barely 8 feet wide and runs beside a well protected only by a one-foot boundary wall. Investigators believe Sanjay lost control while negotiating the turn and rode straight into the well.

When police searched the well, they recovered both his motorcycle and mobile phone — exposing a major flaw in his robbery claim.

“Even after that, he initially continued insisting that he had been attacked,” DSP Choudhary said. During local inquiry, neighbours told police that Sanjay frequently consumed alcohol and was anxious about the fallout at home over his drinking habit.

Eventually, during sustained questioning, he admitted that no robbery had taken place and that he had fabricated the story after regaining consciousness.

Police said Sanjay survived the accident by sheer luck. “It was nothing short of a miracle that he came out alive after falling into the well,” the DSP said.