Nine days after drowning, body of health official found in Ganga

Kanpur: body of deputy director, health, posted in Varanasi, Aditya Vardhan Singh (44), was found entangled in the Ganga Barrage on Sunday night. Aditya drowned while taking a holy dip in the Ganga at Nanamau Ghat under the Bilhaur police station in Kanpur on August 31.After receiving the news, Aditya's family members, including his father Ramesh Chandra, who retired from the irrigation department and who resides in Aliganj, Lucknow, reached the spot and identified the body which was sent for the postmortem examination. Divers of police, PAC, NDRF and SDRF had been conducting an extensive search operation since August 31 to trace the body of Aditya.On Saturday, Aditya had gone to take a holy dip in the Ganga along with his friends, Yogeshwar Mishra and Pradeep Tiwari, both from Lucknow, when he accidentally slipped into the deep waters. His friends tried to save him, but were unsuccessful. As Aditya cried for help, Pradeep sought assistance from a boatman of Nanamau village who was present at the ghat. However, instead of rescuing Aditya the boatman asked Pradeep to first transfer Rs 10,000 online in his bank account. As Pradeep tried to transfer the amount Aditya was carried away by the strong currents of the Ganga. The boatman, identified as Shailesh Kashyap, left his boat on the banks and fled.Aditya's wife Shreya Mishra is a judge in Akola district and his cousin Anupam Singh is secretary to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.