Mumbai: As the monsoon season comes, tourist spots around the city starts buzzing with the tourist from the city and even outside too in Mumbai. However mumbaikars frequenting to these forts and waterfalls for fun trips. Waterfall at Mahuli fort in Shahapur was the scene for boyish stunts being performed by men who wished to imitate a scene from the movie Baahubali. This has led to several injuries and even deaths.
The latest victim is a Bhiwandi based businessman Indrapal Patil, 27, who visited Mahuli on July 14th with his friends. In a statement given to media, Patil’s brother Mahendra said, “We were informed by the police that he fell from a height and died. It was shocking for all of us, even more so for his wife.”
The Patils feel that it was too reckless a stunt to be performed by their son. Mahendra said to media reporter, “My brother was pushed. It must have either been a planned attack, or someone might have accidentally or playfully pushed him.”
But the police have a different story to tell. According to PI BH Pawar of Shahapur police station, “Eyewitnesses informed that the deceased jumped – rather than fell – from a height, tried to land on his feet, missed and went underwater. His friends got him out. It appears that these leaps are inspired by the jump in the movie Baahubali.”
Patil is not the only person who perished while performing the stunt. As per senior PI Mahesh Shetye of Shahapur police station, “Inebriated or sober, men have a tendency to perform stunts. The climb itself is so rough that one wrong step can throw them tumbling down.”
Shetye told media that there have been two cases of accidental deaths at the fort, and at least one injury every two to three days . He said, “Every year during monsoon, we have our hands full with these incidents. Last month a man died of a heart attack while he was trying to climb up to the waterfall’s source.”
In an attempt to thwart people from performing these death-defying stunts, the police has written to the forest department about the problem and are hoping for some assistance from their end. Shetye told Mumbai Mirror, “We have done everything, from trying to make people aware to deploying police bandobast. The youngsters find a way of creeping past us. We have written to the forest department to shut the gates that lead to the waterfall.”
At their wits end the police have decided to make the popular tourist spot a no-entry zone. “We can’t let anyone come to the area, as we don’t know who will try to imitate the ‘Baahubali jump’. We prefer people missing out on enjoying nature’s beauty, than people leaping to their deaths.” PI BH Pawar said.
