Chhattisgarh deputy CM's nephew drowns in Kabirdham waterfall

The 21-year-old nephew of Chhattisgarh deputy chief minister Arun Sao drowned in a waterfall in Kabirdham district, police said on Monday.

Tushar Sahu, an office-bearer of the BJP's youth wing, drowned in Rani Dahra waterfall, a tourist spot under Bodla police station limits, during an outing with five of his friends around 4.00 pm on Sunday, Kabirdham additional superintendent of police Vikas Kumar said.

A police team was rushed to the spot, and a search was launched to trace Sahu. However, the rescue exercise was called off in the evening as it became dark, he said.

Around 6.30 am on Monday, divers found the body stuck under a rock in the waters and fished it out, the official said. Prima facie, it appears that the death was due to drowning, and further investigation is on after registering a case, he added.

Another police official said eyewitnesses reported that Sahu and his two friends slipped into the pool of the waterfall from a 40-foot-high rock. While the two friends managed to come out, Sahu went into deep water, he said. At least 15 persons have died in the waterfall in the last five years, the official said.

Sahu, a resident of Bemetara town in neighbouring Bemetara district, was the son of the deputy chief minister's sister. He was also the general secretary of the Bemetara urban unit of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP, the police said.

Expressing grief over the incident, chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai wrote on X, "Received the heart-wrenching news of the drowning of Tushar Sahu, nephew of Deputy CM Arun Sao ji, in Rani Dahra waterfall of Kawardha. I am deeply pained. I pray for the departed soul and the bereaved family."