Woman’s body recovered from waterlogged basement of Dreams Mall in Bhandup

The Bhandup police have reported the discovery of an unidentified womanrsquos body in the flooded basement of Dreams Mall Bhandup WestThe incident came to light at around 940 am when a mall employee noticed the body floating in the waterlogged basement Authorities were immediately alerted and the body was transported to Mulund General Hospital where doctors declared the woman dead upon arrivalInitial investigations suggest that the victim believed to be in her 30s likely drowned as water was found in her lungs However the exact cause of death will be confirmed after a postmortem examinationldquoSince the mall has been closed for several years a significant amount of water has accumulated in its basement The abandoned premises are often frequented by drug users and couplesrdquo stated Sanjeev Kumar a social workerPolice are working to identify the woman and ascertain her whereaboutsDreams Mall has been nonoperational for several years following two fire incidents One of the fires occurred at Sunrise Hospital which operated on the malls top floor and the other engulfed a major portion of the structure The building also housed the head office of Punjab Maharashtra Cooperative Bank infamous for a financial scam involving thousands of croresThe mall was originally owned by HDIL the developers of the Dreams Heights residential buildings located behind the mall Since its closure the premises have turned into a haven for vagrants and antisocial elementsWhen the fire broke out in Dreams Mall on a Thursday night emergency access was hampered as the rear fire exit had become a dumping ground ldquoWe couldnrsquot utilise the rear fire exit due to heaps of garbage blocking the way We evacuated patients using fire laddersrdquo stated an employee from the Vikhroli fire stationResidents of Dreams Tower situated near the fire exit claimed to have repeatedly complained about the poor upkeep of the malls surroundings but their grievances were ignored Poonam B a resident of Dreams Building 1 shared ldquoThe occupants initially collected funds for basic housekeeping but the efforts didnrsquot last Eventually the fire exit became a garbage yard and the parking area in the basement became unsaferdquoPoonam added ldquoI used to run a kindergarten with over 100 toddlers in the mall but I had to shut it down during the pandemic due to its deteriorating conditionrdquoResidents of the lower floors in the 20storey Dreams Building 1 are the worst affected by the neglect Binu Geevarghese chairman of the society said ldquoWe wrote several letters to the civic authorities but nothing was done The fire exit area is now a breeding ground for mosquitoes and a hideout for rodents Itrsquos filled with dry waste mostly inflammable materials like carton boxes plastic containers and papersrdquoThe narrow road between the mall and the building is used for illegal parking further hampering emergency vehicle access Binu added ldquoThis incident should be an eyeopener for the authorities to act and clear the waste entirelyrdquoThe mall has been the site of two major fires On March 25 2021 a blaze broke out at Sunrise Hospital claiming 11 lives Barely a year later another fire gutted a large portion of the mall spreading rapidly from the basement to the domeThe fire brigade responded promptly but faced challenges due to poor maintenance and inaccessibility of fire exits ldquoThe electricity had been disconnected after the first fire incident and the mall was empty at the time The fire spread rapidly across all parts of the structurerdquo said Hemant Parab Chief Fire Officer of the BMCDespite the efforts of 15 fire engines and 11 water tankers the blaze was only brought under control after several hours The cause of the fire remains uncertain and investigations are ongoingThe latest discovery of the body in the flooded basement adds to the malls growing list of tragedies highlighting the urgent need for intervention and proper maintenance of such neglected spaces