Jacket, cap recovered as search for missing Pindari trekker enters 6th day

Bageshwar: The search for Noida-based software engineer Abhishek Chauhan, who went missing during a trek to Uttarakhand’s Pindari Glacier last week, entered its sixth day on Wednesday, with rescue teams yet to trace him. Officials said a jacket and cap believed to belong to Chauhan were recovered from the banks of the Pindar river, prompting authorities to intensify searches along the river course.The clothing items were found lodged between rocks near the river and were identified by Chauhan’s family members and porter Anand Ram, who had accompanied him during the trek. The recovery comes days after search teams found a camera believed to belong to the missing trekker.Joint teams of the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, police, forest department personnel and local villagers carried out extensive searches across forests, riverbanks and vulnerable stretches of the trekking route throughout the day despite difficult terrain and intermittent bad weather.Kapkot SHO Pratap Singh Nagarkoti said police teams were sent to several downstream locations, including Rudraprayag, Karnaprayag and Srinagar, to check with local police stations and outposts about any unidentified bodies recovered from the river in recent days. “Rescue personnel also searched an inaccessible gorge where operations remained extremely challenging. However, no breakthrough had been achieved till late evening.”Officials associated with the operation said preliminary assessments suggested that the spot where the camera was recovered lay above a steep, densely vegetated slope descending almost vertically towards the Pindar river. Rescue teams are examining the possibility that Chauhan may have slipped and fallen into the river.“The jacket and cap were recovered nearly 250 metres downstream from the location where the camera was found. While this strengthens one possible line of investigation, it would be premature to draw conclusions without concrete evidence,” a rescue official said.Circle officer Ajay Shah said authorities in all districts through which the Pindar river flows had been alerted and search operations were underway at multiple locations to ensure no crucial lead was missed.Chauhan went missing on Thursday while undertaking the Pindari Glacier trek in Bageshwar district. Since then, one of the region’s largest coordinated search operations in recent years has been underway, involving multiple agencies and local residents. Authorities said the search would continue until definitive information about Chauhan’s whereabouts was established.