Thane: A group of trekkers have found the skeletons of two individuals who had gone missing over the past three years from the Harishchandragad hill in the district. The remains were recovered in difficult conditions, by venturing into a steep, 1,500-foot-deep valley.
One of the missing persons whose remains were found was Ganesh Honrao (22). He was identified from the Aadhaar card found with his clothes. The remains of the other person, Rohit Salunkhe (22), who went missing six months ago, were identified from his clothes and mobile phone.
The police said Salunkhe, who worked as an engineer in Pune, fell from Harishchandragad while trekking on June 18.
Honrao was a resident of Latur, from where he was missing since 2021, and a case of his disappearance was registered at the local Shivajinagar police station.
The police said that for many years, Honrao’s family had been looking for him in nearby areas. When the police informed the parents about the discovery of their son’s skeleton at Harishchandragad, the family was surprised. Their son had left home in anger after a fight. The police suspect Honrao committed suicide.
Salunkhe went missing in June. Salunkhe, who worked as an engineer in Pune, was trekking. His parents live in Silvassa. The police said Salunkhe came to Harishchandragad to trek and took help from a local villager.
Salunkhe gave his bag to the villager and went to answer nature’s call in the forest, after which he did not return. Some eyewitnesses said they had seen Salunkhe falling from the hill. After the disappearance, the police tried to find Salunkhe with the help of local villagers but were unable to locate him due to heavy rain and fog.
Recently, at the request of Salunkhe’s family, the police sought the help of Ganesh Geedh, who runs the Lonavla-based Della Adventure Rescue Team. Geedh, along with his team, started searching for Salunkhe’s body on Thursday.
Geedh said that four trekkers from his team, Arman Muzawar, Dhanaji Phanale, Hemant Jadhav, and Ashutosh Gunjal, were sent down using the rappelling technique. They first found Salunkhe’s skeleton.
Geedh said that while looking around, the team found another skeleton with an Aadhaar card and PAN card, which identified the remains. The skeleton was transported in a bag by the team and handed over to the police.
During the entire operation, apart from the local police, Salunkhe’s father was also present on Harishchandragad, from where the team went into the deep valley.
“We suspect that Honrao might have come to Harishchandragad to commit suicide after a fight with his parents, but the local Shivajinagar police will investigate this further as a case of disappearance has been registered there,” assistant police inspector Dinkar Chakor of the Tokawade police station said.
The police handed both skeletons to their relatives and sent samples for DNA testing.
Geedh, who has helped the police search for the bodies of many trekkers who either fell or got stuck during trekking across the state, appealed to trekkers to follow safety guidelines and rules while trekking in such risky places.
