Gambler jumps into well to escape raid, dies

Vadodara: A gambling raid proved to be fatal for a 22-year-old man who died after allegedly jumping into a well while escaping the cops chasing him in a village of Dahod district on Tuesday night.

Death of Ajay Valvai sparked anger among his family members who accused the police of not informing about his death.

When the police went to the village to fish out the body from the well on Wednesday and conduct legal formalities, they faced stiff resistance from the locals. The villagers initially did not allow the police to take the body for postmortem and they relented only after hectic convincing by the cops.

The raid was conducted in a house at Afwa village of Fatehpura taluka by a team of Sukhsar police station sometime after 11pm after they got information that 10 people were gambling there. The police managed to nab two persons even as others escaped from the house during the raid. Valvai was allegedly among those who fled.

The well was around 50 foot deep and had no boundary wall. Valvai died due to drowning, police said.

His family came to know on Wednesday morning that he had fallen into a well and died. They along with other villagers rushed to the police station alleging that the police were aware about Valvai having fallen in the well, but did not inform them.

“They agreed to cremate the body only after we convinced the family to maintain the dignity of the deceased. Other aspects of the incident will be probed by a senior officer,” Dahod superintendent of police, Hitesh Joysar, said.