A search operation was underway near Noida Sector 81 Metro station after a 29-year-old man, identified as Ravi, reportedly entered a large, water-filled drain following a dispute with his wife late on Wednesday night. Police, fire services and disaster-response teams were involved in the operation, but the search was complicated by heavy water and accumulated waste in the drain.
According to the report, Ravi, originally from Etah district in Uttar Pradesh, was living with his wife in Gautam Buddh Nagar. His wife told police that the couple had argued over alcohol consumption before he left home in an agitated state and reached the drain near the metro station. The account of his motive has been attributed to his wife and had not been independently established in the supplied report.
The incident was reported after people in the area saw Ravi enter the drain and alerted the police. A crowd gathered along the drain during the night as rescue personnel began searching the surrounding area and the water channel. The operation continued for several hours, but the man had not been located at the time of the report.
Police inspected the site and called in the fire service for the rescue operation. Fire service personnel entered the drain and searched possible locations in and around the water. Officials faced difficulties because of the amount of water and waste inside the channel, conditions that reduced visibility and made movement for rescuers more difficult.
The response was subsequently expanded, with the State Disaster Response Force and the National Disaster Response Force sent to the site to support the search. Police, fire services and the disaster-response teams were reported to be conducting a joint operation, while officers gathered information about the incident and questioned family members.
The episode also highlights the risks posed by open and heavily polluted urban drains located close to public transport infrastructure and densely used neighbourhoods. The supplied report does not establish the drain’s ownership, maintenance schedule, safety barriers or whether any formal warning or access-control measures were present at the location. Those details would be relevant to assessing the wider safety conditions around the site.
The immediate priority remained locating Ravi and completing the search. Police and rescue agencies were expected to continue the operation with support from specialised disaster-response personnel, while the circumstances surrounding the incident remained under investigation.
