The body of former Chennai mayor Saidai Duraisamy’s son has been recovered from the Sutlej river in Himachal Pradesh on Monday, February 12. The car in which he was travelling fell into the river after the driver lost control of the vehicle near Kashang Nala NH 05 in Kinnaur district on February 4. While Vetri Duraisamy, the son of the former mayor, was reported missing, the driver of the vehicle, Tanjin was declared dead, and co-passenger Gopinath was admitted to a hospital.
Speaking to TNM, Kinnaur Deputy Superintendent of Police Naveen Jhalta said Vetri Duraisamy’s body has been shifted to Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Shimla for postmortem. “The body of the deceased will be handed over to the family once the postmortem is done. Gopinath, who was admitted to the hospital, has been shifted to a hospital in Chennai and is recovering,” he added.
In a statement issued by the Himachal Pradesh Police Department on February 6, human remains were recovered on a rock along the river bank. The remains were sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory, Junga, for DNA extraction and analysis.
“The driver of the car lost control of the vehicle. The Station House Officer of Reckong Peo Police Station, along with the QT police team, rescued Gopinath from the riverside and admitted him to the Regional Hospital. He had suffered head injuries and fractures and was referred to Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Shimla. In further rescue efforts, the team reached the vehicle lying in the stream of the Sutlej river and the vehicle was pushed aside to the banks, beneath which the body of driver Tanjin was recovered and shifted to hospital,” the statement added.
Vetri Duraisamy was suspected to have been swept downstream in the river. A team of Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the Indian Army, and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were involved in search operations along the river banks. The rescue operations were affected by adverse weather and night conditions and had to be stopped multiple times.
According to sources, Vetri was in Himachal Pradesh as a part of a film production crew. He had directed one Tamil film ‘Endraavathu Oru Naal’ in 2021, which bagged laurels at several International film festivals.