Fleeing in ‘panic’, 4 men fall into well in Bhavnagar, 3 die
DySP Singhal added, “Four of the men, including Ajitsinh Uta Sindha, Rahul Popat Chauhan, Nilesh Bijal Dabhi and Keval Ramesh Solanki fell into a well on the property. Of them, Keval Ramesh Solanki was rescued alive from the well while the other three died.”
THREE OF four men who fell into a deep well that was hidden amid thick bushes in a field in rural Bhavnagar died on Tuesday. The incident took place after a group of 11 men attempted to flee from a field where they were allegedly gambling – fearing that they were targets of a police raid. The police, however, claimed that no such raid was carried out and someone else’s arrival at the spot may have triggered panic among the group.
The incident took place on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday in Ukhrala village in the jurisdiction of Vartej police station. “Around 2:30 am, there were 11 men in the field of a man named Mahaveersinh and they were gambling. At that time, they heard a loud sound. Mahaveersinh wondered aloud about who could have made the sound. This caused panic and the men began to run in different directions,” said DySP R R Singhal of the Bhavnagar Police.
DySP Singhal added, “Four of the men, including Ajitsinh Uta Sindha, Rahul Popat Chauhan, Nilesh Bijal Dabhi and Keval Ramesh Solanki fell into a well on the property. Of them, Keval Ramesh Solanki was rescued alive from the well while the other three died.”
He told The Indian Express that while the others fled, it was only later in the morning when Mahaveersinh returned to his farm that he realised the four men were inside the well, which is hidden amid the bushes. He called the 112 helpline. The police and firefighters arrived on the scene, rescued Keval Solanki and retrieved the other bodies.
DySP Singhal further said that questioning of Mahaveersinh led the police to believe that a loud sound heard by the men gathered in the field had been the cause of “panic”. In this rush to escape what they may have believed was a police raid, the four men had fallen into the well and died of injuries and/or drowning.
The police subsequently sent the three bodies for postmortem examination. An Accidental Death (AD) report was filed at Vartej police station.
At a press conference in Bhavnagar on Tuesday, DySP Singhal also addressed a question on whether it was an actual police raid that led to panic. He said, “We investigated whether this was a police raid but found that none of our police stations had registered a case in such a matter, but we are still investigating what was the actual cause of the panic and whose arrival caused this.”
Brendan Dabhi works with The Indian Express, focusing his comprehensive reporting primarily on Gujarat. He covers the region's most critical social, legal, and administrative sectors, notably specializing at the intersection of health, social justice, and disasters.
Expertise
Health and Public Policy: He has deep expertise in healthcare issues, including rare diseases, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), the complex logistics of organ transplants, and public health challenges like drug-resistant TB and heat health surveillance. His on-ground reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic and Mucormycosis was critical in exposing healthcare challenges faced by marginalized communities in Gujarat.
Social Justice and Legal Administration: He reports on the functioning of the legal and police system, including the impact of judicial philosophy, forensics and crucial administrative reforms (. He covers major surveillance and crackdown exercises by the Gujarat police and security on the international border.
Disaster and Crisis Management: His work closely tracks how government and civic bodies respond to large-scale crises, providing essential coverage on the human and administrative fallout of disasters including cyclones, floods, conflict, major fires and reported extensively on the AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad.
Civic Infrastructure and Governance: Provides timely reports on critical civic failures, including large scale infrastructure projects by the railways and civic bodies, as well as the enforcement of municipal regulations and their impact on residents and heritage. ... Read More
