UP minister’s daughter drowns in Ganga

DEHRADUN/MEERUT: 24-year-old Aabida Hasan, daughter of Uttar Pradesh labour minister Shahid Manzoor, drowned in the Ganga at Rishikesh on Sunday morning. She arrived in Rishikesh on Saturday with nine friends from her college. The students were all staying at a camp for river rafters at Phoolchatti, 12 km from Rishikesh city.
Policemen from Tehri and Pauri launched an operation to search for the 24-year-old woman.Superintendent of police Ajay Joshi of Pauri rushed to the spot to monitor the search operation.
“Rescue teams have been at work since morning. Five scuba divers of Jal Police, four rafts and one private motorised boat have been pressed into service,” Joshi said. A team of army divers also joined the search operations in Rishikesh.
Minister Manzoor has also reached the spot of the accident, along with relatives. Aabida is the fourth child of Manzoor, three-time MLA from Kithore.
After finishing her MBBS degree from Meerut’s Subharti Medical College (SMC), the woman had only just procured admission for MD (skin) at the same college. The trip was in part to celebrate her admission to the post-graduate course.
“She was a part of a team of medical students, all from SMC. The four girls and seven boys had come here for the weekend from Meerut. On Sunday morning, around 9 am, Aabida jumped into the Ganga for a bath, and a strong current swept her away,” Sanjay Gunjyal, Inspector General of Police (IG) Garhwal told TOI.
Seeing her struggling in the river, a friend also jumped in to save her, but the gushing water almost swept him off. “Others present at the spot managed to pull him out to safety,” Gunjyal said.
Circle officer CG Anthwal of Rishikesh said it appeared, after preliminary investigation, that the rafting camp operators could not be blamed for this accident. Despite the dos and don’ts clearly displayed at the site, the woman and her friends had headed to the river without informing camp operators.
“Our preliminary investigation suggests that rafting camp operators were not at fault. The woman and her friends went towards the river for bathing without the knowledge of the operators. The staff of the camp also rushed to save her after hearing her friends shouting,” Anthwal said.
Authorities said rescue teams are combing through a 20-km stretch of the Ganga, between Pholtchatti, where the woman drowned, and Raja Ji Barrage.
“The search operation will continue till sunset. If the body is not retrieved by then, the search will continue tomorrow,” Gunjyal said.