Varanasi: The body of a police constable, Paritosh Mishra (27), posted at Bansdih Road police station in Ballia, was found in a pond along the road leading to the police station on Monday, a day after he went missing while returning from Ballia city.Ballia SP Omveer Singh said Mishra, who was deployed for mobile night patrolling duty, did not reach the police station till Monday morning, following which a search operation was launched. During the search, his body and motorcycle were found inside a pond located at a sharp turn on the road leading to Bansdih Road police station.Prima facie, it appeared that Mishra might have lost control of his motorcycle while negotiating the turn and fallen into the pond, the SP said. The body was sent for post-mortem examination to ascertain the exact cause of death.Officials were awaiting the post-mortem report to determine whether Mishra had accidentally fallen into the pond and died by drowning or whether any other mishap had occurred.During investigation, officials learnt that Mishra had gone to the railway station on his motorcycle on Sunday evening to drop fellow constable Shivgopal Pal, who was travelling to Allahabad High Court to submit bail comments. On his way back, Mishra had dinner with two to three police personnel posted at Bansdih Road police station. After the meal, he told his colleagues that he had to report for his second mobile night-duty shift and left on his motorcycle.However, he did not reach the police station at the scheduled time. Police subsequently launched a search operation.Around 10am on Monday, Mishra’s body was found in the pond along with his motorcycle. Bansdih Road police reached the spot and sent the body for postmortem.
