Nagpur teacher dies in 150-foot fall at Pachmarhi while chasing monkey that took his bag

A 40-year-old teacher from Nagpur died on Friday after he fell into a deep gorge at Pachmarhi, the popular hill station in Madhya Pradesh. He had been running after a monkey that snatched his bag.

The dead man is Vijay Naik. He taught at Somalwar School in Nagpur's Ramdaspeth area. Naik travelled to Pachmarhi on Thursday evening with a group of tourists. By the account available, the party was in a holiday mood and nobody expected what would follow.

On Friday morning the group went to Priyadarshani Point. Visitors were taking in the scenery and photographing the view when a monkey grabbed Naik's bag. He ran after the animal to get it back. His foot slipped, he lost his balance and he plunged into the gorge, which is said to be about 150 feet deep. He died on the spot.

Pachmarhi police reached the site after being told of the accident. With the help of local residents, they brought the body out of the gorge after considerable effort. A post-mortem examination was carried out, and the body was then sent to Nagpur.

The incident has alarmed people in that part of Pachmarhi. Naik leaves behind two daughters, and his family is in deep shock. Colleagues at the school and others who knew him have also been hit hard by the news. Tourist spots like Pachmarhi draw large crowds, and taking photographs at viewpoints is routine, but here a slip made while trying to recover a bag ended in a teacher's death.

In a separate accident, a home guard jawan died at midnight at Madgi in Bhandara district, on the Ramtek-Gondia highway. The dead man is Gajanan Tijare, 38. He was riding a motorcycle when it went out of control and crashed.

A cement road is being built on that stretch. Construction material lay scattered at several points and there was no lighting in the dark. The preliminary assessment is that the contractor had put up no direction signboard or radium reflector at the spot, and heaps of soil were also lying there, which led to the crash. Tumsar police are investigating further.