Team Herald
PANJIM: A plan to swim in River Mandovi, to protest ‘political arrests’, went wrong when one of the two swimmers drowned in the river.
Social activist Sudeep Dalvi and his friend Manuel Pereira were the two swimmers but only one swimmer, Dalvi, organiser of the protest, swam ashore. His friend, who Dalvi said joined his protest swim activity at the last minute, drowned.
“On April 3, he decided to ‘swim for justice’ along with me, at the last minute to protest atrocities of this fascist government, and to demand release of political prisoners all over India. While swimming, he went missing mid-stream, only to be found just now after 38 hours,” Dalvi said in a media statement.
According to Dalvi, a casino boat saw Pereira and approached him in Dalvi’s presence, “Threw a lifebuoy at him before he submerged, (believed now) due to the suction generated by its engines. This all, just happened in a radius of 10 to 15 metres around me and I believed he had been taken up, but no.”
Dalvi claims, that other persons who had joined in the protest – activists like Avertino Miranda and Kenneth Silveira – had also seen the buoy being flung in the direction of the struggling Pereira.
Asked why no precautions were taken, Dalvi justified that since it was a solo programme, he didn’t opt for it. However, Pereira joined at the last minute. He also attempted to justify why he hadn’t taken the mandatory permission from the government for swimming across the congested river, saying, “It was not worth since government takes me as their enemy.”
