Bhubaneswar: A body, suspected to be that of 22-year-old YouTuber Sagar Kundu who was swept away while filming a video at Duduma waterfall in Odisha’s Koraput late last month, was recovered on Wednesday, approximately 3 km away from Machkund Hydro Power Project.
According to sources, some fishermen found a body near a tree and alerted Machkund police, who seized the headless body in a highly mutilated state. A mobile phone was also found from the site.
Police are investigating to confirm the identity of the deceased since 28-year-old Animesh Das from Bhubaneswar had also gone missing in a similar mishap at Duduma waterfall on June 14 and remained untraced despite intensive search operations by police, fire services and ODRAF personnel.
Spread across the Machkund river, the 175-metre-high Duduma is one of the highest waterfalls in Odisha and a major hydro-electric source.
The latest incident took place on August 23 when Sagar along with his friend Abhijit Behera from Cuttack were shooting videos of the prominent tourist spot for his YouTube channel using a drone. A video from the scene showed Sagar stranded on a rock midstream, following a sudden surge in water flow from the Machakunda dam following heavy rainfall, with others attempting to rescue him using ropes. The YouTuber, however, could not manage to balance on the rock for long and was swept away due to the heavy water flow.
Authorities of the Machakunda dam had released approximately 2,000 cusecs of water due to heavy rainfall in the Lamtaput area, following an alert issued to residents downstream.
A resident of Berhampur, the YouTuber ran a photography and film channel with nearly 500 subscribers, regularly sharing videos about the culture of Odisha.