Overview
- Police say an 18–19-year-old, identified as Kunal Chandgude, climbed Khavdya Hill after a row over unpaid iPhone instalments and stood at the edge for nearly three hours while family, villagers and rescuers tried to talk him down.
- On Friday the standoff ended when Kunal jumped from the cliff, his father Murlidhar climbed to grab him and both fell into the gorge, and his mother Sangeeta then went over and died, according to local police accounts.
- Fire brigade crews and police attempted rescue measures including deploying a safety net, videos from the scene captured pleas from bystanders and offers to buy an iPhone, and witnesses recorded the mother pleading with the teen.
- Authorities recovered the three bodies, completed post-mortems and registered an inquiry, and investigators say they are examining the exact sequence of events and all contributing factors.
- Recent reporting shows investigators are also probing that Kunal had tried to die at the same cliff last year and that long-running family strains after an elder son’s death and a cryptic social‑media post by the mother may have been additional factors.