Three of Family Die After Falling From Khawadya Hill in Tisgaon

A 19-year-old youth and his parents died on Friday, August 21, after falling from Khawadya Hill in the Tisgaon area of Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district following a domestic dispute over an iPhone instalment payment. The incident occurred under the jurisdiction of the Waluj MIDC police station.

The deceased have been identified as Kunal Chandgude, 19, his father Murlidhar Chandgude, 48, and his mother Sangita Chandgude.

According to reports, Kunal had purchased an iPhone but was unable to afford the monthly instalment payments. A dispute broke out between him and his father over the EMI payment, after which the teenager went to Khawadya Hill around 10 am. His parents followed him to the site to persuade him to return home.

Police personnel, fire brigade teams, and local villagers reached the location and spent nearly three hours attempting to bring the teenager down safely. Fire personnel attempted to place a safety net below the hill, but rescue operations were complicated as Kunal kept moving near the cliff edge.

Local residents and former Tisgaon sarpanch Sanjay Jadhav appealed to the teenager to step back from the edge and reconsider his actions, urging him to think about his future, education, and family. However, Kunal refused to step away from the cliff.

Around 1 pm, Murlidhar moved closer to his son to pull him back from the edge. Police accounts indicate that Kunal went over the edge, and his father fell while attempting to save him. Both died from the fall. Sangita, who witnessed her husband and son falling, subsequently went over the edge and also died.

Police and fire brigade personnel later recovered all three bodies from the area and sent them for postmortem examination. An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths is underway.