Vada-pav stall-owner found dead

“I saw the body entangled in chains at 7 am and called police. The man was wearing only a vest and was holding his underwear and a torch in each hand,” said fisherman Raju.

Sina,who ran the stall in Worli village market,lived with family in a hut opposite the bridge. His is survived by wife Sundari (50),daughter Aarti (16) and son Manjunath (21).

Aarti is a class-10 student at a BMC school in Worli seaface and Manjunath works at Coast Guard Headquarters.

This is the second death in the family in a year. Sina’s second son Sudhakar had died of malaria last year.

The family is clueless as to how he ended up in the water.

“Father used to complain of severe headaches. On Sunday night,he got drunk and was in a lot of pain. But he refused to go to hospital and passed out. He was fine the next day. On Wednesday,we went to see a doctor,who prescribed medicine for the headaches. That night,he woke up at 1 and went to a public toilet nearby. When he did not return,Manjunath went looking for him. We couldn’t find him all night and registered a missing complaint at Dadar police station.

But in the morning,a fisherman came running to our house and told us that father had been found dead. I haven’t yet told my mother,she will not be able to bear it,” said Aarti.

Worli Police have registered a case of accidental death,as no external injury marks were found on the body.

“We received a call at 11.45 am and immediately informed the fire brigade. The man was holding a lungi around his waist. It appears he went to bridge to defecate but suffered an attack or seizure and died. He did not die of drowning,” said Sub-Inspector R. S. Gound.