Jaipur: Trader’s body found 3 days after mishap

JAIPUR: Three days after a car plunged into a nullah in Ambabari, the driver’s body was fished out by civil defence teams on Sunday.
Shastri Nagar police identified the deceased as Prashant Panwar (26), a resident of Vishwakarma colony. He ran a successful tour and travel business in the city and was heading home in his newly purchased car on Thursday late night when it plunged into the nullah.
There are no railings or barrier walls on either side of the road also known locally as Ambabari Puliya.SHO Dilip Singh said some stray dogs had come before Panwar’s vehicle due to which he veered off the road and fell into the nullah.
Panwar tried to escape from the sinking vehicle by breaking its windows. “He leapt out of the vehicle but could not save himself and got stuck in the muck,” added Raj Krishan, a cop who was part of the rescue team.
According to police, the incident took place shortly before Thursday midnight. The submerged car was discovered on Friday. Local administration summoned civil defence and disaster relief teams to the spot to undertake the search operation.
“For the past three days, we had been hoping that he would be found alive. We thought that he had managed to escape from the vehicle. We were shocked when his body was found,” said Panwar’s friend Sumit Singh.
The deceased’s friends and relatives told TOI that Panwar had gone to a friend’s house in Jhotwara to book tickets for his customers. “Barely a few minutes before the accident, he had spoken to his father to inform him that he was on his way home,” said Umesh Sharma, a friend of the deceased.
Panwar got engaged in April this year. His wedding was scheduled for December 11. “He was busy in his wedding preparations and handling business,” Singh said.
Relatives said they had not informed Panwar’s elderly parents about his death immediately, because the entire family was hopeful that he would be found alive somehow. “He was very hardworking. He had told his father to retire because he was making good money and could take care of the family. He had organised his elder sister’s wedding all by himself,” Sharma said.
While relatives and friends praised the rescue operation, they lamented the fact that local administration had turned a blind eye to the sorry state of affairs of the road. “There are no proper street lights, and the entire nullah is infested with water plants, it was an avoidable death. The city administration always waits for a tragedy to occur before they wake up,” said a relative.
The deceased’s post-mortem was conducted at the Kanwatia hospital on Sunday. Several relatives, neighbours and friends gathered outside the mortuary. “ Prashant’s family is still in disbelief. We don’t know how they will react to the news,” Singh added.