Gujarat: Four missing after Statue of Unity visit found dead in canal

VADODARA: After the family of five who had gone to visit the Statue of Unity (SoU) on March 1 created a stir with their sudden disappearance from the highway, the mystery deepened on Thursday when the car and bodies of four were recovered from the Narmada canal in Dabhoi.
Despite hunting for three km in the vicinity of the car, the body of the fifth person could not be located. The car was found floating in the canal near Tentalav village.
Officials fished out their car from Narmada canal on Thursday
Kalpesh Parmar, his wife Trupti, their two children and his mother had gone to visit the SoU on Sunday morning and left for the city at around 7pm in their car.
Kalpesh, who is a stock broker, even called up his relative informing him about their returning home. However, the entire family went missing later.
When they did not return home till late night, Kalpesh’s grandfather, Bhailal Parmar, who stays in Navapura called up some relatives to inquire if they have visited them. But, when the relatives denied, he approached the Navapura police on Monday which informed the Kevadia police station.
A hunt was launched to find out the missing car in which the Parmars were travelling. “We checked CCTV footage of SoU and learnt that the entire family left the premises at about 7 pm. CCTV footage of Vadodara-Dabhoi highway was also scanned and we learnt that the family had stopped at Jayveer Hotel on Dabhoi Road at about 9pm for dinner,” said A M Parmar, PSI, Kevadia police station.
Thereafter the car wasn’t seen on the highway in any CCTV recordings en route.
Police then focused on Kalpesh’s mobile phone location which revealed that it had got switched off at about 9.45pm near Tentalav, an interior part of Dabhoi and far away from the highway,” said Kalpesh Solanki, deputy SP, Dabhoi.
Police suspected that the car may have slipped into the canal and immediately stopped water supply so that levels could recede on Wednesday night.
On Thursday morning, a diver spotted the car. Kalpesh, his two children and mother’s body was found inside, but his wife Trupti is still missing. Fire brigade searched for Trupti’s body in the radius of three km in the canal but couldn’t locate her.
While the hunt is on to trace the fifth missing person, cops are baffled as to why Kalpesh went off the highway and drove into the interior area.
“We have registered a case of accidental death and awaiting post-mortem report. We can’t rule out suicide too,” Solanki told TOI.