NAGPUR: Twenty-five year old Pankaj Doifode, who was one of the eight men who drowned in Vena reservoir near Nagpur on Sunday evening, was extremely active on Facebook. His Facebook wall suggests he shared a new photo every third day.
“He had an obsession to visit new places, wear new clothes and shoes and click pictures of himself which he would immediately post on Facebook and WhatsAap. He was a royal man and social media was his only obsession. He would keep a complete record of the number ‘Facebook Likes’ and comments,” Vikrant Borkar, a close friend of Pankaj, told The Hindu.
Pankaj’s obsession with “selfies and likes” was visible in the video he shared on his Facebook page just moments before the boat, carrying him and his friends, capsized in the reservoir killing him and seven others.
The live video he shared on Facebook Live, minutes before the boat capsized, has gone viral.
Until Tuesday evening, Pankaj’s last post had more than 3,500 likes, 606 Comments and had been shared by 1,528 people. However, the man, who always craved for such response from people, was not alive to see it.
Pankaj was an employee of the HDFC bank and the sole breadwinner of his family after his father died a few years ago. His mother is in a shock. “She has fainted four times in the last 24 hours,” said Pankaj’s cousin Anand Doifode.
Another deceased Rahul Jadhav was an executive with Bajaj Finance Company.
Rahul’s family members were insisting on his marriage and were planning to go to a prospective bride’s place on Sunday evening but he did not return home that day.
Paresh Katoko, another victim, was also an employee of HDFC bank. He was engaged a month back and was to be married on November 21.
The two local villagers from Peth village — Akshay Khandare and Roshan Khandare — who also died on Sunday, were cousins.
According to their family members, Akshay and Roshan were good swimmers and rarely went towards this reservoir.
“It was Atul Bawane (one of the survivors) who took them along. Both were reluctant to go but he told them they would get ₹1,500 for taking the youngsters from Nagpur to the reservoir. Even those boys requested our kids to accompany them since they had come all the way from the city,” said Askhay’s father Mohan Khandare.
Three survivors of Sunday’s tragedy — Amol Dodke, Roshan Dodke and Atul Bawane — continue to be in a state of “mental shock” and are admitted to a hospital here.
The hospital authorities did not allow reporters to speak to the survivors, but according to some friends of Mr. Dodke, who spoke to him, the boat lost its balance when Rahul Jadhav stood up.
“Roshan and Amol swam from the reservoir and shouted for help but no one came forward to help as the boat had capsized in the middle of the reservoir. Roshan insisted on going back again to save his friends but some onlookers stopped him,” a friend of Mr. Dodke told The Hindu.
