Bhopal, March 17 (IANS) The body of a 40-year-old man, who had been missing for the last four days, was recovered from a waterfall located under Shahpur Police Station in Mauganj district of Madhya Pradesh, police said on Tuesday.

An extensive search operation was initiated jointly by SDRF and the Shahpur Police team after learning that the missing person had allegedly jumped into the Belauhi waterfall in Mauganj on Monday afternoon and continued till late evening.

On Tuesday, when the operation resumed, an NDRF team also joined, and the hours-long joint efforts by police, STRF and NDRF eventually yielded the result as the body was recovered from the 650-feet-deep waterfall.

The deceased has been identified as Sugreev Gupta, a resident of Bilohi Kala village in Mauganj district, who had been missing since Saturday.

A missing person report regarding his disappearance was also filed at Shahpur police station.

Mauganj Superintendent of Police (SP) Dilip Soni told IANS that after receiving a missing complaint from his family members, Shapur had initiated an investigation and had learnt that a man had jumped into the Belauhi waterfall.

Upon reaching the spot, police had recovered the man’s slippers from the upper section of the waterfall, which suggested that the man was either thrown or had fallen into the waterfall. Subsequently, a search operation was started on Monday.

The search operation was stopped during the night, and it was resumed early on Tuesday, and by the time, the NDRF team also arrived from the neighbouring Rewa district. “It was a tough situation because the waterfall is so deep. Divers spent hours searching the deep pools and rocky crevices of the falls; however, the effort yielded the result and the body was eventually recovered today,” Soni told IANS on Tuesday.

He further stated that Shahpur Police is investigating the case to find out whether it was suicide or murder.

“Whether it was a suicide or murder will be known only after the post-mortem is done. Meanwhile, Shapur Police are investigating the case, keeping all possibilities in mind,” the SP added.

–IANS

pd/uk