The body of Ashish Chauhan, 27, who had drowned accidentally while making fun video shoot in upper Ganga canal, is yet to be recovered. However, another body of a boy, Gaurav Chauhan who drowned a day before Ashish fatally jumped into the river was fished out from Asafnagar barrage in Roorkee on Friday.
A desire to get a video shoot done while he was jumping into the Ganga canal is supposed to have proved fatal for Ashish. He was swept away in the strong current of the river, now in spate with the monsoon having arrived.
As per the eye witness Ashwani Chauhan, it was just out of fun that Ashish indulged in the risky jump on July 5.
“We did not apprehend anything as he was a good swimmer. Ashish was a fun- loving guy. He used to drive auto-rickshaw. His father had expired earlier, leaving him the only earning member of the family. He had his mother and two brothers. The shock we have received from his death can hardly be described in words,” said Ashwani.
According to the police, though Ashish was a good swimmer those who made the video clips did not know swimming.
They could not thus have done anything to save him, they said.
Resident of village Mirpur of Bhadrabad police station, Ashish used to go for swimming in the minor canal of Ganga which is not as deep as the main canal. That day he jumped in the main upper Ganga canal which is far too wide and deep, police said.
He had jumped with confidence but could not come
out from the river alive, a police officer associated with the case said.
Speaking to The Pioneer, SSP Rajeev Swaroop said, “The parents of Ashish did not lodge any case in the matter,” adding that they had sent the body of Gaurav to district hospital for autopsy.