Marine commandos join search operation for missing Army Captain

Indian Army captain Ankit Gupta, who went missing after he jumped into a Jodhpur lake as part of his training last week, remained untraceable even as marine commandos joined search operation on Monday.

Captain Ankit Gupta (28) of 10 Para (Special Forces), the Army’s specialised unit for desert warfare, had jumped into Kalyana Lake from a helicopter on Thursday as part of the training exercise but could not come up with other trainees, police had said, fearing that he might have drowned.

Since then, teams of police, civil administration, Army, and Navy continue to search for Captain Ankit Gupta.

On Monday, dozens of divers including marine commandos of Indian Navy’s MARCOS team scanned 46 feet deep water in about 100 square metres manually and using water cameras to trace Captain Ankit Gupta. However, he still remained untracedable.

According to members of search teams, as he has not yet been traced despite aggressive efforts, chances of finding him alive seem quite bleak.

The bottom of the lake is said to be rocky with cracks and has abandoned fishing nets. The most plausible reason seems to be that Captain Ankit Gupta may have got trapped among the rock, silt and nets and could not get out.

On Saturday, special team of Navy commandos had joined the search operation.

Teams of the NDRF, SDRF and the Army have been constantly searching for him.

Meanwhile, the officer’s family members arrived in Jodhpur on Saturday. Hailing from Gurgaon, Captain Ankit Gupta had married barely a month ago and had returned to complete his special training.