Missing Thapar university boy’s body found near Sangrur

editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Patiala, September 16

Almost six days after the administration failed to trace the body of an engineering student in the Bhakhra Canal on Saturday midnight, the Patiala authorities along with the help from the Army have recovered his body from Khanauri Headworks, near Sangrur.

On Sunday night, a second-year student of Thapar University, Patiala, was feared drowned in Bhakra Canal near the Century Enclave police post on the Nabha road.

Anmol Rai (21), a BTech student, had gone to the banks of the canal with his classmates - Shrey and two others - after attending a reception party of a close friend’s relative.

After the police and private divers failed to trace the body, the district administration sought help from Army officials that frisked the water body here today. The body was taken out and brought to Patiala by the army officials. “His parents have decided to cremate the body at Badoongar crematorium after the postmortem,” said SHO Passiana.

Anmol’s classmates had told the police that he went close to the canal water and fell into it due to slippery surface. The police have not ruled out alcohol consumption as one of the reasons behind the incident.

The police initially said all friends were in an inebriated condition. Anmol’s father Manoj Kumar, who is the principal of the DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology (DAVIET) in Jalandhar, termed it as accident. He had reached Patiala to oversee the rescue operations, since last week.

Meanwhile, the police have not given a clean chit to the fellow students, who accompanied the victim at the time of the incident.