‘My friend Debasish was alive till Monday’

Hyderabad: B Mohan Krishna Reddy, 21, of Begumpet was quite resentful when he landed in Hyderabad. For a while, he felt as if he had cheated his friends leaving them high and dry at the death door and backed out. He finally spoke in a quiet voice muffled by sobbing that Debasish, whose body was recovered on Tuesday, was confirmed by the forensic department that he was alive till Monday afternoon. According to the autopsy report, Debasish, who was swept away on Sunday evening around 6.30 pm, was alive till Monday afternoon. He might have been stuck in ravines or under rocks which surfaced later.

“The report clearly stated that my friend did not die immediately after the incident. Had the rescue team arrived early, Debasish would have been alive today. "I could not believe this, it all happened in 15 minutes,” said Mohan in tears. On the ill-fated evening as Mohan felt uneasy and nauseated, he preferred staying in the bus while his friends went to the Beas River bank for taking pictures.

“As we did not have proper sleep for the past two days, my eyes were burning and so I was taking a nap in the bus. Suddenly the bus driver came running and told me ‘All washed away’. I was shell-shocked and ran towards the gushing water. It was pitch dark and the dam was about 2 km. I gathered my wits and screamed for help and tried to reach the dam to warn the officials there, but it was too late,” Mohan explained.Larji dam was not their planned location and it just happened on the spur of the moment, Mohan added.

Mohan, who lost his two best friends, Debasish and Shabir Hussain, said Shabir was like a brother to me. “His absence will haunt me every stage of my life. Till today, I was hoping that he would return safely, but my hopes were shattered with the heartbreaking news of Shabir’s death,” he said.