5-Year Old's Body Found Five Days After Ganesh Immersion

At Girgaon Chowpatty during the day of Lalbaugcha Raja Visarjan (immersion), five people drowned after a boat overturned. Out of five people, four were rescued but 5-year-old Saish Marde went missing. After five days, on Saturday morning, around 11:30 am, Saish Marde's body was found near Walkeshwar. 

Saish had come to Visarjan with his parents and elder sister, who are residents of Palghar. The family got into the boat that was carrying 20 people on board. The boat collided with another at 7.30 am and capsized. The fire-fighters and lifeguards rescued the Marde family and they were rushed to the Nair hospital. While the family believed that Saish was rescued too, it was only later they realised that the boy was missing.

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A missing complaint was filed in DB Marg police station on Monday.

According to an officer from DB Marg police station, “A missing complaint was filed at the police station and we were on the search for the boy. We could not find him even at any of the hospitals. We checked with all the boats that were used during immersions. The CCTV footage of the areas was also scanned but later we got a call from Jagdish Tandel who is relative of Marde family that his body has been recovered. We took the body to JJ Hospital for post-mortem. Body was found in a decomposed state. Identification was made on the basis of the appearance and clothes he was last seen wearing, Saish’s parents formally identified the body."

Speaking to Republic TV, Jagdish Tandel, a relative of the Marde who spotted the body, said, “There were five of us, including policemen, conducting a search when I saw a body on the shore. I went over and recognized the T-shirt that Saish was wearing the day he went missing and the locket around his neck. I immediately alerted the police.”

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With further information, an officer from DB Marg police station said, "We are now conducting further inquiries. Although we are still waiting for the post-mortem report, which will ascertain the cause of death, inquiries so far indicate that Saish died due to drowning. No indication of foul play has come to light so far, nor do we have any reason to suspect anything of the kind at this stage. We have registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) case.