KUALA LUMPUR, May 29 — A government official in India has been suspended after he agreed to suggestions by locals that a dam be drained so he could search for his mobile phone.

Rajesh Vishwas, 32, had dropped the new phone, a Samsung S23 ultra worth Rs95,000 (RM5,294) on May 21, while taking a selfie during a picnic with friends at Paralkot reservoir, The Indian Express reported.

Vishwas, who works as a food inspector at Pakhanjur town in Kanker district, said villagers had dived in to try and locate his phone but to no avail.

“They looked for it for two days. When they failed to locate it by Tuesday, they suggested draining the water by a few feet. I said the phone would be damaged by now, but the locals, who share a good rapport with me, insisted that they would find it for me,” he reportedly said.

Upset he lost the phone which he bought two months ago, Vishwas said he contacted the Water Resources Department which verbally agreed to allow the water to be drained.

“On Tuesday night, I hired a diesel pump for Rs7,500 (RM417.99) and drained around three feet of water from the reservoir over a period of two days.”

However, authorities later found “nearly 21 lakh litres (2.1 million liters) of water” had been removed from the reservoir.

The phone was successfully located and returned to Vishwas, but was found damaged.

While he said water in the reservoir was only used by picnickers for bathing and not for irrigation or any similar purpose, authorities said the water could have been used by villagers and animals in the current extreme heat.

This is not Vishwas’ first time to be in trouble with the authorities.

He was suspended in 2021 for alleged misconduct in distribution of rice and was only reinstated after an investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing.