Indian man pumps out 2 million litres of water from dam to recover mobile phone

LAHORE – While the government in neighbouring India is adopting new methods to conserve water amid the fear of a water crisis, a government employee drained out two million liters of water from a dam to find his phone.

The bizarre incident was reported in Chhattisgarh, Eastern Indian state, where the selfie craze proved costly to the man who was shown the door after it was revealed that water was drained from a local dam continuously for nearly three days.

Indian media reported the incident occurred on May 21 when a man identified as Rajesh Vishwas, a food inspector who was posted at Pakhanjur town, lost his Samsung S23 mobile, a high-end smartphone, in the dam.

To get his mobile phone which worth nearly INR 0.1 million the man abused his authority to drain thousands of gallons of water.

Top officials took notice of the matter and suspended Rajesh. It was a double whammy for the Indian man who faced suspension while his phone was also water-logged.

To defend his move, the man claimed that sensitive government data was in his mobile phone which forced him to go at length.

It was learned that he first got help from local divers who failed to recover the mobile phone, and then paid for a diesel pump to drain water.