CHENNAI: Fishermen living around Kovalam have in the past seen many weird objects washing ashore — even pyres set on sea from the Thailand coast. But, when they woke up on Thursday morning they had, perhaps, the biggest surprise when they saw a brand new luxury Audi car washing ashore.
The white Audi Q3, which was later traced to be belonging to a realtor residing in Gowriwakkam, was noticed floating in the sea that was more choppy than usual because of the full moon night. As the word spread, a few fishermen recalled the car roaming in the area the night before. Their worst fears of this being a suicide attempt was removed when they found there was none inside the car.
“A few of them tried to pull out the car using a tractor that we use to pull out boats and ships out of the coast. Even as the car moved a little, it got struck in the rocks. The car was in gear and hence the wheels could not roll making it difficult to pull it out,” said Murthy Megavan, a local fishermen.
But as time passed and the sea water retreated a bit by the effect of the daylight, the car became more visible. By that time the information was already passed on to the fire services and the Kelambakkam police. Police engaged an earth-mover to pull the car out. “We tied a rope to the rear of the car and the machine was able to pull the car out. But by then the car was heavily damaged due to impact of the waves overnight,” said a police officer.
The car doors were not locked. But all police could find inside was a purse with a driving license bearing the name ‘Dennis Joshua Kingshlin’. An ‘advocate’ sticker was also pasted on the windshield. “We traced the car owner — Williams Garry, a real estate businessman. He visited the spot but did not make it clear how the car got washed away. We have registered a case under CrPC section 102 as unclaimed property. The car owner reportedly told police that the car was taken by one of his relatives and went missing when it was parked on sides of the ECR.