: A 27-year-old trekker from the city fell to her death ten days ago while on a trek near Matheran in Raigad district of Maharashtra. Her body was found on Tuesday by rescuers after a three-day search.
Rachita Gupta Kanodia, a resident of Secunderabad, had embarked on a trek to Prabalgad Fort, which stands at an elevation of 3,000 feet, on November 25 after taking an early morning flight to Mumbai from Hyderabad. She then hired a cab to the base village of Thakurwadi, about two hours from Mumbai airport to start the trek to Prabalgad Fort, which stands at an elevation of 3,000 feet.
“After scaling the peak, she fell about 100 metres that resulted in her death,” said Inspector Madhavji Shinde of Panvel Taluk Police Station located in Maharashtra. The Panvel Taluk Police coordinated rescue operation with a local mountaineering group, villagers and Ms. Gupta’s family.
Ms. Kanodia was scheduled to return home on November 29. After having lost contact with her for four days, her panic-stricken family approached the Narayanguda police. The family and city police reached Mumbai airport on December 1 and through CCTV footage, identified the cab that Ms. Gupta took from the airport.
“The cab driver took us to the exact spot where he dropped her. The search operations began on December 4,” Mr. Shinde said. The police also traced her location through messages received by her phone between November 25 and November 28.
After failing to find her along the side with less dense vegetation, rescuers began searching along the hill’s slope with more dense vegetation on Tuesday. Post noon, they found the body and the belongings. Mr. Shinde ruled out foul play and said the fall seemed to have caused Ms. Kanodia’s death.
