Mumbai, Nov 27 : Top Mumbai Police officials are scratching their heads over the mysterious act of a man who jumped into the sea at Bandra-Worli Sea Link on November 6, hours before US president Barack Obama was to visit Mumbai, reports Mumbai Mirror.
The man is well-built, seems to be in his 30s, his hair is close-cropped, and his clothes are contemporary casual -- a checked shirt tied around the waist, a body-hugging vest, boots and fitted jeans. There were no train or bus tickets in his clothes.
A constable present at the spot reported that the man first threw a baggage into the sea before taking the plunge.
These are the first and exclusive pictures of the unidentified man who jumped off the Bandra-Worli Sea Link on November 6. His act sparked off panic in the security establishment.
Combine that with intelligence inputs early this year that the Sea Link could be targeted by terrorists via the sea or road and you have a case that the cops just cannot ignore.
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In the past 20 days, every police station in the city has been on the job to establish this man's identity.
Armed with CCTV footage and whatever few clues could be gathered from his body, which washed ashore at Dadar Chawpatty on November 7, several teams have worked tirelessly to give the Sea Link jumper a name and address.
It's a tiring job -- to run through missing persons records of past six months at every police station and try to match them with details of this man provided by the Bandra police.
By now, the city police are certain that he wasn't a Mumbaiite.
“We are almost certain he wasn't a resident of Mumbai. Neither is any missing complaint registered in the city that matches his profile, nor has anyone come forward to claim his body. The news was in every newspaper. If his family were in Mumbai, they would have approached us.
"Going by the look of the man and what he was wearing, he seems to belong to a well-off family,” said a senior officer attached to the Bandra police station.
But the investigations are still on. The CCTV footage and other details have now been passed on to all district police units across the state.
“We are taking this case very seriously because of the timing of the incident. He jumped off the Sea Link just before President Obama's arrival in the city,” said another officer.
The police believe it wasn't a case of suicide.
“The CCTV footage shows the man swimming around 100 meters and then drowning. He did try to save himself. So it is important to ascertain his identity, if for nothing, then to eliminate all suspicions,” the officer added.
The man did not seem to have used any public or private transport to get to the Sea Link.
“There were no bus or train tickets found in his pocket. It is possible he had walked all the way to the Sea Link. He is also seen entering Sea Link from the Bandra end and walking to pillar no. 19. He did not have a vehicle,” said the officer from Bandra police station.
Additional Commissioner Amitabh Gupta confirmed his men are still on the job.
“The victim has not yet been identified, but we have now sent his pictures and CCTV footage to other police stations outside Mumbai as he may not belong to this city. The investigations are on and hopefully we shall soon get some clues about the identity of this man.”
