Mumbai lawyer, who was stuck in his car during rains, dies

On Wednesday morning, locals spotted a man seated in Santro car in an unconscious state. The Sion police was informed and when police officials opened the car, the man was rushed to the hospital. The man was declared dead before admission. He was identified as Priyem Mainthia a 29-year-old lawyer residing in Sion.

On August 29, when heavy rains lashed Mumbai causing heavy water logging at several places, Mainthia was at home in Highway Apartments at Sion. Mainthia was the only child of his parents. According to his parents, he left home at 11:30 pm telling his mother that he would be back soon and he was going towards King Circle to help a friend who was stuck due to water logging.

Mainthia left in his Santro car and reportedly drove towards Gandhi market in Sion. This very spot had heavy water logging and at some places it was almost five feet of water. Police suspect that Mainthia's car broke down when he entered into Shanmukhananda lane where water was almost five feet. Some residents of the locality claim that they had seen Mainthia trying to turn his car, but couldn't do it as water entered into his car. This further led to failure of the central locking system and Mainthia remained stuck inside the car.

Police are yet to record statements of Mainthia's senior citizen parents who are presently in a state of shock due to the tragedy.

"We suspect Mainthia tried calling his friends for help and some of them also went out searching for him in Sion and nearby areas, but his phone turned off and wasn't reachable. The friends couldn't spot Mainthia's car which was submerged beyond bonnet in the shanmukhananda lane. Prima facie it seems he couldn't get out of the car or open the windows as central locking system failed when water entered inside the car. He could have died of suffocation," said a senior police officer from Sion police.

The primary postmortem couldn't help in giving exact cause of his death so the viscera has been preserved and will be sent to Forensic Science Laboratory in Kalina for analysis.

Mainthia's father Ramesh, a retired chartered accountant, said "We have no idea what had happened but it seems my son couldn't reach the rear windows or door to get out of the car. He was well built and had a heavy body frame due to which he would push back the seat to farthest possible so that he could drive easily."

Police will now wait for FSL report to ascertain what was the exact cause of death.

ALSO READ:

Mumbai rains: 14 dead, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray tells media to stop the downpour

Mumbai rains: Don't invoke 'spirit of Mumbai' to hide your failures, locals warn politicians