Four college girls on way to Kharghar hills waterfall washed away; three bodies found

George Mendonca & Umesh K Parida / TNN / Aug 4, 2019, 05:41 IST

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Four college students – all girls – on their way to the waterfall near Pandavkada hills in Kharghar for a picnic were washed away by the strong water current while attempting to cross a stream in order to reach the hill top.

Four college girls on way to Kharghar hills waterfall washed away; three bodies found

Aarti Nair was a Nerul resident, while Neha Dama lived in Kopar Khairane

NAVI MUMBAI: Four college students – all girls – on their way to the waterfall near Pandavkada hills in Kharghar for a picnic were washed away by the strong water current while attempting to cross a stream in order to reach the hill top.
Entry to the waterfall, which is along the driving range in Kharghar, is barred as the spot has seen close to 10 deaths in the past eight years.But the girls ventured there, as others too have done in violation of orders in the past, especially during the rains.

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For the past four years, the police have clamped Section 144 (banning assembly) in the Pandavkada hills area owing to drownings in the rains, yet picnickers risk their lives. Revellers must stay away from such spots, where notice boards warning of danger are apparently already in place, and the authorities too must do more to spread information about how perilous the area is so that other lives are not lost in the future.

The victims were identified as Neha Jain (19), Aarti Nair (18), Shweta Nandi (18), and Neha Dama (18). While bodies of the first three have been recovered, Dama’s body had still not been found, senior inspector Pradeep Tidar said.

According to Tidar, Neha Jain’s body was recovered at 11am after it had drifted 2 km, and the bodies of Aarti Nair and Shweta Nandi were recovered at 12.30pm and 2pm respectively in the vicinity of the golf course in Kharghar.
The inspector said Jain, a Chembur resident and student of Sanpada College, was accompanied by an auto-rickshaw driver from Kurla, while the other three victims were part of a group of seven friends, including two boys, all FYBCom students at SIES College, Nerul. Two boys and two girls had a fortunate escape.

Assistant police inspector Manish Kolhatkar said, “The group of seven college friends and the couple were crossing the stream to reach the waterfall on the other side. A sudden gush of water from the hill top carried away 3 girls from the group, while the 2 boys rescued themselves and saved 2 girls. The auto driver accompanying Neha Jain was also carried away by the water, but he managed to clutch at a huge stone after drifting 50m and was rescued by locals.”
Kolhatkar added, “The college students had told their parents they were going to college, but they had planned a picnic at the waterfall. They met at Nerul’s SIES College and reached Kharghar station at 8.30am. They reached the golf course and to get to the waterfall, they had to cross a stream, which was about 3 ft deep at that time. But the gush of water due to torrential rain carried away the girls.” Harish Kurakala, the uncle of Airoli resident Shweta Nandi, said, “Shweta was a good student.”
Aarti Nair was a Nerul resident, while Neha Dama lived in Kopar Khairane.

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