Out for a dip in Ganga,BTech student drowns

According to the police,the 18-year-old student had gone for the swim with seven others to mark the end of Navratra period. His body was fished out by divers after a near three-hour search from Brij Ghat,Ghaziabad.

Sub-Inspector at the Brij Ghat police post Kamal Singh said,“While two of the students,who were also drowning,were rescued,Kumar could not be saved. The victim failed to estimate the depth of the river and went too far.”

The police said Kumar was a resident of Gorakhpur and was living with his paternal aunt in Shahdara,East Delhi. Kumar had gone with to Garh Mukteshwar with Arvind,Ashwani (both second-year B Tech students at the institute),Harshit,Siddharth,Aakash,Sumit and Rohit (all in first year).

The trip was planned by Kumar,his friends said. “Given the heat,we thought a dip was not a bad idea,” said Harshit.

Arvind said they had asked Kumar and the other two students who were rescued — Harshit and Siddharth — to not venture far into the water,but they did not pay heed. They wanted to compete with each other,he said.

“Three of them bet on touching a pillar on the ghats. We tried to stop them but they went ahead anyway. I saw Harshit drowning and pulled him out while Siddharth was rescued by the boatmen near the ghats,after they heard us shouting for help,” Arvind said.

The police have handed over Kumar’s body to Hari Shankar Gupta with whom he lived with in Shahdara. “His parents have also been informed,” Singh said.

Kumar’s classmates described him as a lively boy,who was known for his spontaneity. “He was a classmate of my younger brother. We never saw him fighting with anyone. He was loved for his behaviour,” Arvind said.