Ghaziabad
A 37-year-old private diver is feared to have drowned while undertaking a search for a missing 28-year-old man at Dabar Talab in Loni’s Ankur Vihar on Thursday morning, police officers said.
Police identified the diver as Mohammad Sartaj, a resident of Jagatpur in Delhi, who was recently in the news for retrieving the body of a missing seven-year-old boy on Monday evening, officers said. The missing man was, meanwhile, identified as history-sheeter Mohammad Shadan. He was missing since April 14 and his body was recovered from the waterbody in the afternoon, officers said.
Loni assistant commissioner of police Siddharth Gautam told HT that Sartaj went missing in the grassy and marshy waters in the pond around 11.30am. He said the search was undertaken after Shadan’s family filed a missing person’s complaint on April 19 and a probe revealing he was spotted around the pond.
“On April 21, his family told police that they found his shirt lying near the Dabar Talab, and some locals also saw him near the pond. So, a search was launched, and his family roped in private divers who did not find anything on April 21 and 22. When they decided to give it a last try on Thursday, Sartaj went missing, ACP Gautam said.
“Around 1.30pm on Thursday, his friends did not find Sartaj but found Shadan’s body. We sent it for an autopsy. Considering the gravity of the case, the police roped in divers from the flood unit of the provincial armed constabulary. A search is on for Sartaj,” Gautam said.
The police said that the pond, which is inside a cremation ground, is managed by Loni Nagar Palika, and three incidents of drowning have been reported recently.
Officials of the civic body, however, said that the cremation ground and the pond inside are not a thoroughfare.
“The cremation ground has a boundary wall, and it is not a thoroughfare for the public. People venture onto the premises by jumping the boundary wall. There is no direct road leading to the cremation ground or the pond. In the wake of drowning incidents, we are getting any gaps or passages fenced. There is a gate at the entrance of the cremation ground, but we do not have a guard,” said KK Mishra, executive officer of the Loni Nagar Palika.
