- Kunal, 19, argued with family over unpaid iPhone installments in Maharashtra
- He climbed a hill threatening suicide, prompting a three-hour standoff
- Father tried to pull Kunal back from cliff edge, both fell to their deaths; mother fell after them
Kunal, 18, managed to buy an iPhone but could not afford to pay the instalments. This became the genesis of the teenager's fight with his family that eventually led to a massive tragedy, police in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar said on Friday. As phone cameras kept rolling, Kunal and his father fell to their deaths, and were followed by his mother, who jumped off the cliff.
"Live for your mother," a man told Kunal as he threatened to commit suicide, a viral video showed. He replied, "No, I have to die. That remains the only way." Not long after, his father, Murlidhar Chandgude, tried to reason with him and pull him back, but both fell; the mother, Sangeeta, jumped after them.
Sanjay Jadhav, a former sarpanch of Tisgaon village, was among those who tried to reason with Kunal. Others told him they'd get him an iPhone 15 Pro. "We pleaded with him a lot, that he should look at his mother, that he shouldn't jump, that he was educated and had a future ahead of him. We made every appeal we could," Jadhav said. Kunal's response through much of the standoff was shrugging of shoulders and insisting that death remained his only way.
What Investigators Said
Kunal had bought an iPhone and had been asking his family for money to pay the EMIs, according to police officials. This led to a heated argument with his father over the latest payment, after which an angry Kunal left home and climbed a hill in the Tisgaon area, under Waluj MIDC police station limits, around 10 am.
His parents followed him to the spot and, along with other locals, spent close to three hours trying to persuade him to come down. It was not clear why a safety net could not be set up if police and fire department personnel were also present on the scene.
Around 1 pm, roughly three hours after the standoff began, Kunal's father climbed up to where his son stood and attempted to physically pull him back from the edge. In the process, both father and son lost their balance and fell into the gorge below. Sangeeta, who witnessed her husband and son fall, jumped from the hill moments later.
All three died on the spot. Police recovered the bodies and sent them for post-mortem examination. A case has been registered, and further legal proceedings are underway, officials said.
Read: "Will Become Doctor In Next Life": 19-Year-Old NEET Aspirant Dies By Suicide
The incident was witnessed by a number of local residents and tourists who had gathered at the site during the hours-long standoff, with parts of the effort to talk Kunal down captured on video.
Police have not yet shared further details on the circumstances of the family dispute, or whether the teenager had been battling depression as had been reported initially.
(With inputs by Mohsin Sheikh)
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