A couple who recently got married and planned to go on their honeymoon in Sikkim went missing after their vehicle reportedly fell into the Teesta River amid heavy rains in the region, officials said on Tuesday. Nine people, including the couple and the vehicle driver, fell into the river. The incident was reported on May 29. Since then, the officials have been trying to trace the missing people. The missing groom, Kaushalendra Pratap Singh, is the nephew of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader from Uttar Pradesh, Ummed Singh. Kaushalendra Pratap Singh got married to Ankita Singh on May 5. Ankita is the daughter of Vijay Singh Dubbu from Dhangadh Sarai Chivlaha village.
Police said, “The honeymoon couple and seven others have gone missing after their vehicle fell into the Teesta River. A search operation is on to find them. The incident took place on May 29. They were returning from Lachen to Lachung. All nine are still untraceable.”
Also Read: Honeymoon murder case: SIT grills Sonam Raghuvanshi, others in Shillong
Kaushalendra’s uncle Dinesh Singh said that the couple left for Sikkim on May 25. They boarded their train and reached the Mangan district on May 26. When they were returning from Lachen on May 29, their vehicle reportedly fell into the river. The flow of water was very high as the region witnessed heavy rainfall.
The vehicle was carrying other tourists: two from Uttar Pradesh, two from Tripura, four from Odisha, and the local driver.
The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are continuously moving across the region and trying to trace them. Unfortunately, they have not found any bodies or survivors, Dinesh Singh said, adding that family members of the missing honeymoon couple have met senior police officers, including DIG Akshay Sachdeva and the SP of the area. There is currently no concrete proof to determine whether they drowned in the river, even though their personal belongings were found in the hotel. The family back home is devastated and praying for a miracle, he said.