JOIN USThe police said that they have taken into custody Arshad who had accompanied the girl to the monument and reportedly pushed her. She fell from a height of at least 55 feet. Arshad was taken into custody based on the girl’s statement to the police.
Sameera, who belonged to the Old City, was rushed to the hospital with multiple fractures and a smashed skull.
She had reportedly spent an hour with Arshad in the Charminar. They were warned by the security guards against sitting on the parapet wall of the over 400-year-old monument. Minutes later, there was a thud and Sameera was found lying on the road below. The Charminar police inspector was among the first to reach the injured girl.
The girl, in a half-conscious state, told the inspector that Arshad had pushed her down.
Even as TV news channels flashed Sameera’s face throughout Thursday evening, none of her family members came to see her in the hospital or contacted the police. The police closed the monument after the incident.
According to a version, Arshad was a financier and had lent money to Sameera’s father. The police suspect that Arshad and Sameera had an argument following which he pushed her down.
Earlier incidents
This is not the first time that the Charminar has witnessed such incidents. A four-member family jumped to their death from the monument in 1986 after which it was closed to the public. It was reopened in early 2000. In 2005, a housewife committed suicide by jumping off the structure. A few years later, a person tried to jump from the Charminar but the other visitors restricted him. The Archeological Society of India is reviewing the tourist safety at the Charminar.
DH News Service