India iPhone EMI Tragedy: A dispute over an iPhone installment payment in India developed into a three-hour emergency on a Maharashtra hill, ending with the deaths of a young man and both his parents. The extraordinary sequence included repeated appeals from family members, villagers and police, and even an offer to help arrange an iPhone 15 Pro in an attempt to persuade him to move away from the cliff edge.
The incident unfolded on August 21 in Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district.
At the centre of the case was Kunal Chandgude, whose surname is also rendered as Chandwade in some accounts. Most available reports identify him as 18 years old, while another lists his age as 19. His parents were also killed in the incident. His father was identified as 48-year-old Murlidhar Chandgude, while his mother’s first name appears as Sangita or Sangeeta in different accounts.
Those variations are important because several details surrounding the case have circulated in slightly different forms. The broader sequence, however, is consistent.
What started the dispute?
The confrontation began over payments for an iPhone that Kunal had purchased on installments.
Police accounts cited in the available reporting say he was struggling to make the regular payments and sought financial help from his family. That led to an argument with his father over the next installment.
After the dispute at home, Kunal left and made his way towards a hill in the Tisgaon area at around 10 am.
His parents followed him.
What might otherwise have remained a family argument quickly turned into an emergency as Kunal remained close to the edge of the hill and refused repeated requests to return.
Three hours of attempts to bring him back
Residents, relatives and police gathered at the location as efforts were made to convince Kunal to move away from the dangerous spot.
The attempts continued from roughly 10 am until 1 pm.
Sanjay Jadhav, a local eyewitness and former village headman, said those at the scene repeatedly appealed to Kunal to reconsider. They reminded him of his mother, told him that he was educated and spoke about the future he still had ahead of him.
Jadhav said every possible argument was used in an effort to persuade him.
His description places police at the scene during the same period, making clear that the crisis was not a sudden event lasting only a few minutes. It continued for close to three hours before the fatal sequence.
That timeline is one of the most striking elements of the case.
Locals reportedly made an unusual iPhone 15 Pro offer
As the efforts continued, people at the scene reportedly tried another approach.
Residents offered to help arrange an iPhone 15 Pro for Kunal if he would move away from the edge.
The offer did not resolve the crisis.
It is an unusual detail that distinguishes the incident from the more general description of it as simply an argument over an iPhone EMI. It shows how people at the site were searching for different ways to persuade the young man to return to safety.
Some of the events were also captured on video by people present at the scene.
What happened at around 1 pm?
The exact circumstances immediately before the deaths are described differently across the available accounts.
One version says Kunal’s father approached him at around 1 pm and attempted to pull him away from the dangerous position. The father and son then lost their balance and fell.
Another account describes Kunal as having jumped from the hill following the prolonged standoff.
Because those versions do not fully match, it would be premature to state with certainty exactly how the first fall occurred.
What is clear is that Kunal and his father fell from the hill during the final moments of the confrontation.
His mother also died following the incident.
All three members of the family were killed.
Where did the incident happen?
The location also appears under different names in the available reporting.
Some accounts identify the site as Khavda Hill in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. Another refers to the hilltop as Kohdya Dongar, while separate reporting places it in the Tisgaon area.
Despite the difference in naming, the accounts consistently place the tragedy in Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar region.
Visuals published from the scene show a rocky, elevated landscape with steep drops, helping explain why the situation became so dangerous once Kunal remained close to the edge.
Old videos of Kunal and his mother surfaced later
After the deaths, older videos showing Kunal with his mother began circulating on social media.
In one clip, the two are seen sitting together and having tea.
Another shows Kunal washing his mother’s feet and seeking her blessings.
The videos were not recorded during the hilltop incident and are undated. Their circulation after the deaths, however, added a personal dimension to a story that had initially been reported largely through the argument, the EMI dispute and the fatal events on the hill.
Was an iPhone 18 involved?
The model of the phone Kunal originally purchased on installments has not been reliably identified in the available material.
The only specific iPhone model clearly mentioned in connection with the crisis is the iPhone 15 Pro, which residents reportedly offered to help arrange while attempting to persuade him to leave the cliff edge.
What happened after the deaths?
Police recovered the bodies and sent them for forensic examination.
A case was registered and an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths was reported to be continuing.
Authorities were also examining the wider circumstances behind the family dispute.
Claims regarding possible psychological problems involving Kunal have circulated, but police had not confirmed those claims in the information available for this report.
They should therefore not be treated as established fact.
The complete timeline
The sequence began with a disagreement over money for an iPhone installment.
Kunal then left home and reached the hill at around 10 am.
His parents followed, and local residents and police became involved as efforts were made to persuade him to move away from the edge.
Those attempts continued for almost three hours.
Witnesses said repeated appeals were made. At one stage, locals reportedly even offered to help arrange an iPhone 15 Pro.
At about 1 pm, the situation ended in fatal falls.
Kunal, his father Murlidhar and his mother all died.
What remains less certain is the precise movement that caused the first fall, Kunal’s exact age and the preferred local name for the hill.
Those details remain secondary to the central fact of the case: an argument over an iPhone installment escalated into a prolonged hilltop emergency in India in which an entire family lost their lives.
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