A 28-year-old youth, Rahul Sawant, lost his life to what locals said was the indifference of Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) to their complaints, regarding dangerous, dead trees. Sawant succumbed to the injuries he received a week earlier when a dead tree fell on him near Vasant Nagri township of Vasai East. Sawant, a marketing executive in a private firm, was returning on his two-wheeler after meeting his friend in Nalasopara on February 25 when the branch landed on his head.

Locals rushed Sawant to a hospital in Thane where the doctors referred him to RN Cooper Hospital in Andheri for further treatment. He died at the hospital on Tuesday morning. Sawant's sister Rajshree Salvi told mid-day that Sawant was the support of their ageing parents.