It was reunion time at the posh Park Plaza Hotel in Royal Palms late on Sunday night, but the celebrations ended in a tragedy.
A multi-national bank exec dies after he and his friend went for a swim in inebriated state at Park Plaza Hotel pool
It was reunion time at the posh Park Plaza Hotel in Royal Palms late on Sunday night, but the celebrations ended in a tragedy. Two friends, Sanjay Chahadia and Manay Kumar, met up after a long time. There was a third person, Kumar’s brother, Sameer. They dined and drank together, in fact they drank too much.
High on booze, Chahadia and Kumar decided to go for a swim in the hotel swimming pool, even though it was past 12.30 am. Sanjay Mahalkar, the night security in-charge at the hotel, tried to stop them. Paying no heed to him, they got into the water. After about 20 minutes, with their muscles cramping up, they were drowning. Mahalkar raised an alarm, and with the help of a hotel staff, managed to get the two out of the pool. They were rushed to the nearby Holy Spirit Hospital, where Chahadia was declared dead before admission.
This, according to police, was the synopsis of Sunday night’s tragedy. The cops have arrested Mahalkar.
Chahadia, 29, an HSBC bank employee, was a resident of Vazira Naka, Borivili, said the cops. On Sunday night, he went to meet Kumar, who had come in from Delhi. Chahadia and Kumar went to the same business management college in Delhi. Kumar and his brother, Sameer, a television producer and writer, had put up at the Palms One apartment in Royal Palms. Chahadia came there to meet them.
“After chatting for a while, the trio went to the nearby Park Plaza Hotel to eat and drink,” said senior inspector Bhagwan Shinde. “Chahadia and Kumar got heavily drunk and decided to go swimming. While Sameer enjoyed his drink, the two friends began taking off their clothes by the poolside. Mahalkar tried to stop them, saying no one was allowed to enter the pool at night.”
Chahadia and Kumar paid no heed to Mahalkar and got into the water, added the cop. Merely 20 minutes later, Mahalkar heard a noise and rushed to the pool. “Seeing the two drowning, he raised an alarm. A hotel staff, Sunil, came rushing. Together they brought Chahadia and Kumar out of water. The friends were rushed to Holy Spirit Hospital, but the doctors declared Chahadia dead before admission.”
Shinde added that Mahalkar had been charged under Section 304 (a) - death due to negligence - of the IPC. “Since Mahalkar was the night security in-charge and was present at the spot, it was his duty to stop them from entering the swimming pool, that too in inebriated state.”
Chahadia, a native of Patna, had recently come to the city and was staying alone at a rented flat in Borivili. His family was informed about the incident, and his brother claimed his body on Tuesday morning.
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