Pune: Techie, friend drown as car plunges into Nira-Deoghar dam’s backwaters

Sanket Viresh Joshi (28) of Pashan, who was injured in the mishap, lodged a first information report (FIR) in the case at Bhor police station.

As per the FIR, Joshi works as an operation manager at an IT company in Baner. In the past, Joshi, Akshay Dhade and Swapnil Shinde had worked together in another company, and have been friends since then. Harshpreet, who is a native of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, is a friend of Dhade.

They decided to go for a trip and gathered at Joshi’s home and embarked on the trip around 5 am. Dhade was driving the car. Around 8.30 am, the vehicle lost its control while taking a turn on the Bhor Mahad highway at Varvand and plunged about 50 feet down into the backwaters of Nira-Deoghar dam.

Joshi managed to escape from the car and cried for help, after which local residents informed the Bhor police. Soon, a search operation was launched and the team fished out bodies of Dhade and Harshpreet, but could not trace Shinde, till reports last came in. Police said a search was underway for Shinde.