The body of B Bhanuprakash, a B.Sc second year student of SR&BGNR Government Degree College, who was swept away in an irrigation canal here on Sunday, was found floating in the canal at Gopalapuram near here on Tuesday.
Bhanuprakash, an inmate of the post-matric hostel here, was washed away by strong undercurrents in the NSP canal when he ventured into the channel to take bath on Sunday afternoon, sources said. His friend, who accompanied him to the canal, too got trapped in the undercurrent, but managed to swim to safety, sources added.
Various student unions staged a rally here on Monday in protest against the alleged laxity of the officials concerned in tracing the missing student. The search operations were subsequently intensified following the intervention of the district authorities.
The body of Bhanuprakash was found floating in the canal by some local residents near Gopalapuram on Tuesday morning. The body was later fished out from the canal.
As the news spread, the relatives of the deceased as well as activists of the SFI and the PDSU squatted in front of the Collectorate demanding stern action against the errant staff of the hostel for their alleged lapses in supervision of the well-being of the hostel inmates and ‘delayed response’ to trace out the missing student.
The demonstrators demanded that the government order a detailed probe into the incident and sanction ₹ 20 lakh ex gratia to the bereaved family of the tribal student, who hailed from Adavimallela village in Penuballi mandal. Police dispersed the protesters by whisking them away from Dharna Chowk and shifted the body to the mortuary at the District Headquarters Hospital in the vicinity.
Later, a delegation of the district leaders of the SFI, the PDSU and the AISF met Additional Collector Madhusudhan at the Collectorate and presented a memorandum to him seeking government’s support to the impoverished family of the deceased.
