A senior government official from India's Chattisgarh state was suspended on Friday after being instructed to drain 2.1 million litres of water from a reservoir to recover his Samsung 23.
Rajesh Vishwas, now suspended, is a food officer in the Koilbeda block of the Kanker district. On Sunday, he was visiting Kherkatta Dam with his friend on a picnic when he accidentally dropped his phone while taking a selfie.
Locals dove into the reservoir and tried to find his smartphone, however, as the reservoir was 15 feet deep, divers suggested draining 3-4 feet of water and then it would be easier for them to get to the bottom.
Vishwas reached out to the Irrigation Department for a solution, where it was verbally agreed to drain up to five feet of water.
On Monday, a 30-horsepower pump was deployed to drain the reservoir's water, resulting in the discharge of the stored water used for irrigation.
The 2.1 million litres of water were drained for three days. The water could have easily helped to irrigate 1,500 acres of farmland.
After the draining was stopped on Thursday, the dam had less than six feet of water.
When the media reached out to Vishwas, in his defense, he said that the water pumped out was "wastewater unfit for irrigation".
"The Kanker Irrigation Department gave verbal permission to empty 3-4 feet of water…. No farmer was affected by my action", said Vishwas.
As the incident went viral, Kanker senior official Priyanka Shukla ordered a report and issued a show-cause notice saying Vishwas had misused his position to search for his mobile phone. "[...] lakhs (hundreds of thousands) of litres [of water was drained] in the summer season, which is unacceptable. [...] he has been placed under suspension immediately", the suspension order stated.
Meanwhile, the phone, which has since been recovered, is not working anymore.