65-year-old falls in storm water drain, dies

Vadodara: A 65-year-old resident of Gotri was found dead in an open storm water drain on Sun Pharma Road on Friday afternoon. Satish Patel accidentally fell in the drain when he had gone out for a walk, said JP Road police.
A local saw Patel’s body floating in the water at around 8 am on Saturday. but his body remained unidentified till Patel’s family members approached Gotri police station on Saturday evening with a missing person complaint. The family got a rude shock upon learning about the death and identified the body.
Police said that Patel had been suffering from age-related ailments due to which his family had restricted his movement outside the house. On Friday too, when he was leaving for his walk, they warned him not to go far and return early.
“The family members told us that due to old age Patel was suffering from memory loss, and also suffered problems with vision and hearing. In the past too, he lost his way home a couple of times and had to helped home by complete strangers,” said a police official.
According to police, Patel may have lost his way on Friday as it was getting dark and may have slipped into the storm water drain. The police official said that there was an injury mark on his head and as the drain is several feet below ground level, the deceased may not have been able to come out.
A case of accidental death was registered at JP Road police station after the post-mortem was conducted at SSG Hospital.