Dr Deepak Amarapurkar’s sister Manisha performs his last rites at Shivaji Park, Mumbai, on Thursday. (Express Photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)
IT WAS a black and white umbrella stuck in an open manhole that provided the first clue. By Thursday, leading doctors in Mumbai and hundreds received the grim news they were dreading, that senior gastroenterologist Dr Deepak Amarapurkar’s body was found in Worli, a day and half after he slipped into a manhole while wading through rainwater to get home on Tuesday, when parts of the financial capital received up to 315-mm rainfall in a 12-hour period. With over 258 publications to his credit, Dr Amarapurkar was renowned across the country for his technique in endoscopy procedures. He was also on various national and international panels, including the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, European Association and the International Liver Transplantation Society.
His funeral pyre was lit on Thursday by his elder sister Manisha, who lived with him and his wife Dr Anjali Amarapurkar, in Prabhadevi. His son Rohan had left for the United States two weeks ago to pursue a degree in engineering. Rohan and his sister Pooja, who resides in Miami, will return to Mumbai on Friday. “The only identification we had was his black and white umbrella,” said a close family friend, Arun Sharma. Colleagues and friends remembered a brilliant clinician and gentle doctor. “All of us know that he would make a spot-on diagnosis. His grasping capability of a medical problem was great,” said nephrologist Dr Shrirang Bichu, who is also attached with Bombay Hospital.
Amarapurkar had nearly 36 years of experience, including nearly 20 years in Bombay Hospital. “He is considered one of the best in the country in gastroentrology, specially his technique of doing endoscopy,” said Dr B K Goyal, head of cardiology in Bombay Hospital. Among Amarapurkar’s important research was the study of the immediate effects of Verapamil on respiratory functions in bronchial asthma and risk of bacterial peritonitis. He has won awards for best research paper award three times at the Indian National Association for Study of the Liver, in 1998, 1999 and 2000. “But most important, we lost a very good human being. He would treat rich and poor with equal respect,” said colleague Dr Gautam Bhansali.
On Tuesday, Bhansali had lunch with Amarapurkar at 3 pm in the hospital canteen. Other doctors advised him to wait for a few hours until the rains subsided. “He decided otherwise and left,” Bhansali said. At 6.45 pm, two hours after he left the hospital to cover a 5-km drive home, Amarapurkar told his driver that he’d walk the remaining distance, wading through waist-high water. “The house is only 10 minutes away (from there),” said Pallavi Godbole, his niece. He made a call to his wife, telling her he would walk home instead of remaining stuck in traffic.
At 8.30 pm when the driver reached home and there was no sign of him, Anjali, also a professor of pathology at Nair Hospital, called Bombay Hospital canteen owner Mahendra Bindar. “That is when we panicked,” Bindar told The Indian Express. “I always asked him why he did not take the Haji Ali Road to go home. He always answered he preferred the Lower Parel route,” friend Arun Sharma said. Through Tuesday night and Wednesday, the National Disaster Relief Force, Mumbai Police and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation searched for the doctor, including sending divers into several manholes. Locals had spotted a man fall into an open manhole near the IndiaBulls building near Elphinstone Road railway station.
“They said they shouted to warn him. But he could not hear. When he fell, some went to pull him out. But only the umbrella came in their hand,” Sharma added. Anjali had some hope until Wednesday night. “We kept telling her we’ll find him. But she knew,” Bindar said. Meanwhile, the Indian Medical Association said it would file a public interest litigation in the matter. “Those responsible should be made accountable. This is negligence of BMC if a manhole is kept open in a flooded street. We lost our former IMA president, Virdi, during 2005 rains,” said Dr Shivkumar Utture, IMA member. Chest physician Dr S S Virdi died on the July 26 2005 deluge.
According to municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta, the manhole was not opened by a civic official. “Many times, manholes are illegally opened by anxious people,” he said. Bombay Hospital spokesperson Dr Sagar Sakle said a delegation from the hospital would meet BMC officials. Amarapurkar had also worked in Solapur before he finished a diploma in gastroenterology and moved to Mumbai.
On Thursday, his body was sent to Sion Hospital where forensic experts confirmed that death was caused by drowning. The NM Joshi Police station registered an accidental death report.
