Hazaribag: The body of 22-year-old Commando Verma, a resident of Okni locality, who was suspected to have drowned in Khajanchi Talab, Hazaribag, on Friday, was fished out after a 20-hour long operation.Police said Verma and another friend had gone to the pond late on Friday evening. However, while the duo was taking their bath, Verma slipped into the deeper end and could not be saved.As the news of his drowning broke, police launched an operation to trace him and after several hours, his body was recovered with the help of a team of divers from Chauparan.Sadar police station officer in-charge Chandra Shekhar Kumar said that body has been sent for postmortem. “Further probe is on,” he said. Moreover, local residents demanded adequate compensation for the victim’s family and the establishment of a dedicated emergency rescue and disaster response unit in the Hazaribag division to prevent such incidents in future.Hazaribag MLA Pradip Prasad stressed on the need for permanent deployment of a team from the National Disaster Response Team (NDRF) in Hazaribag to prevent such deaths. “Had the administration managed to arrange divers on time, the youth could have been saved,” he added.
