Pune: A routine cricket match took a tragic turn on Saturday (September 28) when an engineer, Abhijit Govardhan Chaudhari, collapsed and died while playing with his colleagues in the Pradhikaran area of Pimpri-Chinchwad.
However, adding to the family’s grief was a four-and-a-half-hour delay in conducting the inquest, caused by a jurisdictional dispute between the Nigdi and Ravet police stations.
The 28-year-old engineer had gone to the Pradhikaran sports ground to play cricket with friends from his company. At around 9:15 a.m., he suddenly collapsed on the field.
His friends immediately rushed him to Lokmanya Hospital in Nigdi, but tragically, Abhijit was declared dead on arrival. The hospital informed the Nigdi police at 10 a.m. about the death, but the situation soon spiraled into confusion.
Upon visiting the scene, Nigdi police claimed that the area fell under the jurisdiction of Ravet police and asked the family to contact them. The Ravet police, after arriving at the scene, said the opposite — that it was not within their jurisdiction, directing the matter back to Nigdi police.
This bureaucratic ping-pong delayed the necessary legal process, leaving Abhijit's grieving family stuck in limbo.
As hours passed and frustration mounted, the family sought political assistance. They contacted Dhananjay Bhalekar, former President of the Education Board, who escalated the issue to former MLA Vilas Lande.
After Lande intervened by contacting senior police officials, Ravet Police Station's Senior Inspector Nitin Phatangare arrived at the scene. Although he confirmed the location fell under Nigdi’s jurisdiction, orders from higher authorities eventually led to action.
By 2 p.m., nearly four and a half hours after Abhijit’s death, the police finally conducted the inquest and sent the body to YCM Hospital for post-mortem examination. The family’s frustration was evident, as they had to navigate a maze of jurisdictional confusion at a time when they needed support the most.
