A mother, father, and their teenage son have died after a dispute concerning a mobile phone escalated at a cliff top in India.
Kunal Chandude, 19, went to Khavda Hill in Tisgaon at around 10am intending to take his own life following a row with his father.
Dispute over iPhone payments
The teenager had purchased an expensive iPhone on monthly repayments he could not maintain. The argument began when his father, a driver, refused to give him money for the latest instalment, the Indian Express reports.
A three-hour standoff ensued at the cliff edge, where his parents and onlookers pleaded with him not to jump.
Fatal fall from cliff
At approximately 1pm, his father, Murlidhar, 48, moved to grab his son. Kunal jumped as his father approached, resulting in both parents falling from the edge. Police stated the father fell while trying to save his son.
Kunal, his father Murlidhar, and his mother, Sangita, all lost their lives in the fall.
According to the District Collector and Magistrate Vinay Gowda: “The boy fell from the cliff and holding on to his father’s hand, pulled him down with him.”
Sangita watched as her husband and son fell from the edge.
Investigation underway
Conflicting reports leave it unclear whether the mother’s fall from the cliff was accidental or intentional. Police, villagers and firefighters also spent hours trying to bring him down.
Fire personnel attempted to place a safety net below the hill, but Kunal kept moving along the edge of the cliff, officials said. A police investigation into the incident is now underway, a postmortem has been completed and the bodies have been returned to their relatives.
