IIT-R student’s body fished out of Ganga canal after 6 days

Roorkee: The body of a 30-year-old IIT-Roorkee student who was swept away in the fast-flowing Ganga canal six days ago at Valmiki Ghat here was fished out near Mohammadpur Jhal area of Manglaur located 17 km downstream in Haridwar district on Tuesday, police said.Ashish Shukla, a second-year MBA student, was a resident of Gokulnagar in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi district. He had gone to Valmiki Ghat near the Roorkee Municipal Corporation office with friends on Feb 11 evening. Police said he lost his balance while getting up from the steps of the ghat and fell into the deep canal around 7pm.
His friends tried to rescue him by tying their clothes to form a makeshift rope, but were unsuccessful as Shukla was unable to grab it and was swept away. A Jal Police unit and local divers launched a search operation the same night but failed to trace him.The next day, canal water was regulated from Haridwar to aid the search. State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and Army's Bengal Engineer Group (BEG) personnel joined Jal Police in efforts to trace Shukla, but could not locate him.After five days, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was roped in and a massive operation was launched on Monday with a joint team of 100 personnel. They conducted a five-hour search covering a 17-km stretch using sonar and underwater drones.The search resumed Tuesday morning and officials spotted the body. "We conducted the post-mortem and handed over the body to the family," SP (Rural) SC Suyal said.