Ahmedabad: A parked luxury car and a dead man inside. Police in Ahmedabad had a sensational case on their hands on Friday. Around 9.30am, the city police control room dispatched a team to Sarkhej after receiving a call from locals about stench around a garage in the area. Cops located the foul smell to a dust-covered Mercedes outside the workshop. Inside was a body in an advanced stage of decomposition. Police have ruled out foul play, saying that the death appeared to be from asphyxiation. The man, believed to be around 40 years old, may have sat inside in an intoxicated state, passed out and died, investigators said, adding that the state of the body shows that the death possibly occurred 48 hours earlier, and that if the man had got stuck inside accidentally, it was possible to unlock the door or break the window glass to escape.The car, a black Mercedes GL 350 CDI model with a Surat numberplate and belonging to businessman from the diamond hub, had been parked outside the garage for eight months, and was up for sale. The dead man was wearing a T-shirt and denim pants. Inspector L L Chavda of Sarkhej police station said that the process to identify the deceased is underway. “It could not be ascertained on the spot as there were no identity documents or a phone on the deceased.” Chavda said a team of forensic experts was called in and their inquiry suggests that the man may have died due to asphyxiation after getting locked in. “Prima facie, it is a case of accidental death and there are no signs of murder,” he said.The garage owner and a security guard posted near the garage have been questioned. Shivam Varma, deputy police commissioner, Zone-7, said that the postmortem will give a clearer picture on the circumstances leading to the death. “The guard said he had spotted the deceased in the vicinity a few days ago. We suspect that the man was under the influence of alcohol when he sat inside and died,” said Varma. Locals speculate he may have been a thief, a possibility Varma said was highly unlikely. Sarkhej police have registered a case of accidental death.
