Pune: Man dies by falling into 500 ft deep gorge while taking selfie with monkeys at Varandha Ghat

A 39-year-old man lost his life after falling into a 500 ft. deep gorge. The incident took place during the evening hours on January 3, near Pune’s Varandha Ghat. The man feel into a gorge while trying to take selfie with monkeys.

The body of the man was retrieved hours later, in the early hours of January 4. The man, Abdul Shaikh, was heading towards Konkan via car. Reportedly, he halted at Waghjai temple on the Varandha ghat road.

Inspector Vitthal Dabade of Bhor police station said that there was a pack of monkeys nearby. Apparently, Shaikh was trying to click selfies with them when he fell. The body of the man was recovered by the police along with the help of the local Sahyadri group. Reportedly, Shaikh was standing at a roadside eatery and offering snacks to the monkeys nearby. After which he was trying to click selfies with the pack when his foot slipped and he fell down into the gorge. The shop-owners nearby witnessed the incident and informed the local police immediately.

A group of twenty five trekkers scanned through the valley before they spotted Shaikh’s body at around 3 AM on Wednesday.

The man who fell into the gorge, Abdul Shaik, lived 36 kms away from Pune in Nasrapur. He was a primary school teacher at government school in Ratnagiri district. His wife, also, is a primary school teacher at Karanjgaon in Velhe taluka.