Surat BLO dies of carbon monoxide poisoning at home, but AAP leader and ‘journalists’ falsely link her death to SIR workload

Surat BLO Dinkle Shingolawala died of gas leak (Image via OpIndia Gujarati)

On Monday (24th November) a woman named Dinkle Shingolawala from Surat district of Gujarat, who worked as a govt employee at municipality, was found unconscious in her home. Her family rushed her to the hospital, but doctors declared her dead shortly after. While the authorities were still investigating the cause of the death, misinformation began spreading online, linking her death to the ongoing SIR (Special Intensive Revision) in the state. 

Dinkal worked as a Technical Assistant in the Varachha zone of the Surat Municipal Corporation. As part of the city’s ongoing SIR duties, she had also been assigned the role of a Booth Level Officer (BLO). On Monday morning, just before she was supposed to leave for work, her family members found her lying unconscious in the bathroom.

She was taken to the hospital immediately, but the medical team on duty said she was already dead by the time she arrived. Her body was then sent for post-mortem and forensic examination. However, even before official medical findings were out, some social media users and a few political voices began claiming that she died due to work pressure related to her BLO duties.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Yuvrajsinh Jadeja, who has previously faced an FIR in a ₹1 crore extortion case, made a viral claim on social media that the woman died of a heart attack while working as a BLO. In his post, he wrote that she was on duty at Sir JJ School and that she “suffered a heart attack at home due to stress.” He also claimed that several BLOs had died recently, linking their deaths to excessive workload, stress, and even suicide. He used hashtags like “Justice for BLO,” “Stop Work Pressure,” “SIR Failure,” and “Systematic Negligence” to support his claims.

Similarly, a journalist from Zee 24 Kalak, Nidhi Patel, posted that there had been “another tragic death during SIR duty,” further suggesting that the death was caused by work-related pressure. A few other online posts and reports also repeated this narrative, saying the woman collapsed because of unbearable workload.

However, the facts indicate something entirely different. According to the post-mortem report, Dinkal died due to suffocation caused by a gas leak in her bathroom. The investigation found that carbon monoxide had leaked from the gas geyser, which caused her to lose consciousness and eventually led to her death.

As per a report by Divya Bhaskar, Dr. Chandresh Teler, head of the forensic department at Surat Civil Hospital, confirmed the finding. He stated that the initial post-mortem results clearly showed death due to carbon monoxide inhalation. He explained that carbon monoxide is a “silent killer” that can fill a small, closed space. In such situations, a person collapses within minutes, and death can occur in as little as five to seven minutes.

This confirms that the woman’s death had nothing to do with work pressure, heart attack, or the SIR process. Despite this, Jadeja and others continued circulating misleading claims on social media to create fear around the SIR exercise. As of the time of writing, none of them have deleted their posts or issued any clarification.

The first phase of the SIR was held in Bihar, following which more than 68 lakh names were deleted from the electoral rolls. In this phase of the SIR, the house-to-house enumeration will take place for a month from 4th November to 4th December, and the draft rolls will be published on 9th December .

Written by OpIndia Staff
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