For 26 monsoons, the Bhakra canal’s water concealed a grim secret, as three families from Ropar grappled with grief and hope. On Sunday, a mangled Maruti Omni, rusted and falling apart, was winched out of the depths, still holding a child’s school uniform, luggage, personal belongings, and a few bones — the remains of four missing individuals. Finally, there is closure for the families who had never given up a search that nearly drove them to poverty. The photographs of Munni Lal, Tej Ram, Surjit Singh, and Surjit’s eight-year-old son Kalu, which hung on the walls of their homes all these years, have now been garlanded. Their kin can now say goodbye.
The Day They Went Missing
They were returning from a wedding on October 17, 2000, in the Omni that Tej had bought only a month earlier. They never reached home. The families of the Omni’s occupants in Kotla village, about 80 kilometers from Chandigarh, desperately looked for them. They hired divers to scour the canal, sold land to keep the search alive, but in vain. The case went cold.
Breakthrough Discovery
The breakthrough came when local diver Kamalpreet Saini plunged into the deadly currents to look for another missing person and spotted the heavily corroded van, 32 feet deep on the canal bed. After a nearly three-hour operation, the vehicle was pulled to the surface. According to Saini, the rear portion of the van and its roof were badly damaged, possibly due to impact and prolonged exposure to strong currents and water pressure. A few skeletal remains, clothing, shoes, and the school uniform of the child were recovered.
Sita Devi, wife of Munni Lal, told the Times of India that the tragedy had shattered their family financially and emotionally. “His parents died, pining for him. Due to lack of proof, we could not even obtain his death certificate,” she said. Tej Ram’s son Bhupinder, who was five at the time, recalled their hardships. “I am told my father sold 3 kanals of land (around 16,335 square feet) to buy the Omni. We sold another 5 kanals (27,225 square feet) to finance search operations.” The families borrowed heavily to hire private divers after official searches failed. “Despite hardships, my brother and I somehow managed to study till Class XII,” added Bhupinder.
Dangerous Recovery
Saini said simply attaching chains and cables to the wreck was extremely dangerous. “But it brought closure to the families,” he added. Kiratpur Sahib SHO Inspector Rahul Sharma said the families, with the help of local divers, recovered the van themselves. Some bone fragments that were found were immersed according to religious rituals. The families held a collective Ardas at Gurdwara Patalpuri Sahib in Ropar.
