Engineering student from MP drowns while clicking photos at waterfall in Badlapur

THANE: A computer engineering student of Koparkhairane in Navi Mumbai, who studied at the BS Institute of Technology, drowned while clicking photos in a waterfall at Kondeshwar in Badlapur East on Thursday. The deceased, Anoop Mishra (22), had come with three friends for a picnic to the spot.

Anoop arrived at Kondeshwar with his friends at around 7:30 am on Thursday and started clicking photos after entering the waterfall. It was then that he and one of his friends started drowning. While his friend could be rescued, Anoop could not be saved.

A few local residents retrieved his body from the water, which was then sent for post-mortem by the Badlapur police.

According to Badlapur Rural police, Anoop originally hailed from Rewa in Madhya Pradesh. He was the youngest in his family and leaves behind an elder brother and sister.

One of Anoop’s friends said that they had been planning to come to the picnic spot for the past five to six days. “Anoop had a keen interest in exploring new places and used to tell us that when he gets a job, he would take his family on tour to beautiful places.”

Badlapur Rural police informed the family members of the deceased and took statements from his friends who were present at the spot when the incident took place.

Such drowning accidents are not new to Kondeshwar. Around 70 lives have been lost in the waterfall in the last five years as tourists often miscalculate the depth of the water that collects at the base and end up drowning in it. Alarmed by such deaths, the residents of the surrounding villages and the police are now contemplating banning the entry of tourists to the danger spot.