Nagpur kin bid adieu to Delhi family that was wiped out
The bodies of the Andraskar couple and their two children, who were killed in Sunday’s gondola tragedy, were brought to Nagpur from Mumbai by air and cremated on Monday night.
Jayant Andraskar, his wife Manisha and their daughters Anagha and Janhvi, were killed after a tree fell on a cable and sent one of the cars crashing below.
The Andraskars, residents of Shalimar Bagh in northwest Delhi, were in Jammu and Kashmir on a family holiday. One of their daughters was a Class 2 student, while the other was in playschool. The family moved to Delhi from Nagpur owing to Jayant’s government job. They went to Kashmir on June 22 for a weeklong holiday, said Jayant’s younger brother Satish.
A pall of gloom descended at Old Subhedar Layout in south Nagpur after the bodies reached the Andraskar residence. “My brother had told us about the trip and seemed enthusiastic. Who would have thought this would happen?” asked a sobbing Satish.
Jayant’s parents Namdeorao and Bimal broke down on seeing the bodies of their children and were unable to speak.
Jayant, a former divisional engineer with the local Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), had taught at a private engineering college before shifting to Delhi. Manisha was an architectturned-homemaker.
J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, who was monitoring the rescue operations herself, announced an ex gratia of ₹5 lakh in favour of next kin of the killed while ₹2 lakh was announced by Gulmarg Gandola, the company that operates the cable car. Mehbooba has also ordered a highlevel inquiry to find out the causes or lapses, if any, that led to the mishap.
Her complaint that two eggs and five pieces of pav (bread) were missing from the morning rations for her barrack apparently triggered a horrific assault by jailors that led to the death of Manjula Shetye, 38, in Mumbai’s Byculla jail on Friday, says the first information report filed by the police on the basis of an eyewitness account.
Hindustan Times has a copy of the FIR and the statement of the witness, which detail the inhuman behaviour of the jailors, six of whom have been booked for murder. The death triggered a violent protest by other prisoners and some 200 of them, including former media bigwig Indrani Mukerjea who is in jail for the murder of her daughter Sheena Bora, were booked for rioting.
According to the documents, the trouble started at 9am on June 23 when Manjula, who was made warden of her barrack because of her good behaviour, found that the rations fell short by two eggs and five pieces of pav.
Manjula was called to jail officer Manisha Pokharkar’s private room. The witness told police officers investigating the murder that she heard Manjula scream in pain. She came back to the barrack and was visibly in pain.
The witness said soon, a group of jailors came to the barrack and assaulted Manjula again. The witness said Manjula was stripped by women constables she identified as Bindu Naikade, Waseema Shaikh, Shital Shega-