Chandigarh accident: Bodies of 4 missing men found in submerged car

When the car was pulled out of the water, human remains were found inside it and the police managed to contact the family members of the victims through the registration number of the car.

The bodies have been kept at Civil Hospital. The post-mortem will be conducted Friday. The police are claiming that it was an accident while the families are alleging a foul play in the incident.

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According to Ludhiana police, the bodies have been identified as that of Pawan Sharma (50), his nephew Jayant Rishi (26), both residents of Sector 27, and friends Prabhjot Singh Nagra (24), a resident of Sector 42, and Ram Kumar (26), a resident of Sector 23. All four were missing since January 14 and their families have now alleged foul play. Raman Sharma, elder brother of Pawan Sharma, said that they received a call from the Ludhiana police around 8:30 pm Wednesday regarding a car being found. He said the bodies were highly decomposed and the car was completely damaged. Sharma added that around Rs. 2.5 lakh and two cellphones that belonged to the deceased were also recovered from the car. He added that they identified the car through the registration number.

Sharma added that construction work was going on near the canal and on Wednesday some labourers noticed the car that was stuck in the bridge. The police were informed and divers were pressed into service.

Pawan Sharma had been running a cloth business from his house in Sector 27 D and he along with Jayant, Prabhdeep, Ram Kumar and one Bunty had gone to Ludhiana to complete the formalities for the release of his employees Rampal and Pramod from police custody.

Both Rampal and Pramod were booked by Basti Jodhewal police in connection with an alleged fraud case and they were working on commission basis with Pawan.

According to Raman Sharma, Bunty, who was Rampal’s driver, and Pramod left Ludhiana around 8.30 pm but the other four stayed there and had their dinner at an eatery near Ishmeet Chowl in Shastri Nagar and and called the family at 12.10 am and informed the family that they were on their way back but their phones soon became unreachable. The family lodged a missing persons report in Sector 26 police station on January 15 following which a Daily Dairy Report was registered and also informed the Ludhiana police about the disappearance.

Meanwhile, Khanna police, under whose jurisdiction the area falls, said it was an accident as the driver probably did not notice the under-construction bridge over the canal and probably they wanted to cross over the bridge and the car fell in the canal. Khanna SSP Satinder Singh said, “It is a case of accidental death.” “As soon as we got information of a car floating in Doraha canal on Ludhiana-Chandigarh road, we started a probe. Seeing the condition of the car and bodies recovered, it seems to be the case of an accidental death. Our investigation till now says that they met with an accident and car fell into the canal. But further probe is on,” he said.

‘Police didn’t listen to us at first’

The family members of the deceased alleged foul play and ‘inaction’ by the Ludhiana police. Raman Sharma alleged that the police “did not listen to them at first” and the complaint was lodged after pressure from the families.

During the investigation, both Pramod and Rampal allegedly told the police that the fraud for which they were arrested was committed by Pawan. The police also questioned some traders in Ludhiana. Refuting the allegations against Basti Jodehwal police, Ludhiana DCP Dhruman Nimbale said “There was no negligence on the part of Ludhiana police.”

“All the allegations are baseless as not even DDR entry was filed with us in time. When we get a missing report, we wait for 48 hours before converting DDR into an FIR. In this case, no DDR was registered with us by the family on the day they went missing,” said Nimbale.

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