Hotel official missing after falling into river

Kolkata: A top official of Floatel, Arindam Bose, drowned in river Hooghly after falling down under mysterious circumstances during the hotel staff picnic party on board to a vessel on Saturday afternoon.

Although a search by the divers of the disaster management group (DMG) of the Kolkata Police has been underway for the past 24 hours, the body is yet to be found.

Mr Bose, the executive director of Floatel, the floating hotel on the river, was celebrating day-long picnic with his colleagues in a group of 30 on the vessel. How he fell down is not clear, however. The incident took place when the vessel was returning from Howrah side.

Alleging foul play Mr Bose’s wife Aditi lodged a complaint of murder with the West Port police station on Sunday.

She claimed, “He worked at a place which is on the water. He was a very careful person. His mood was good in the morning when he left home for the picnic. We had our last talk around 10.30 am. The last seen on his WhatsApp is 4.03 pm. I learnt of the incident by 4.45 pm. One of his colleagues said that he left Antakshari to attend a call. Suddenly all felt a jerk. When they asked the boatmen what happened, they told them he fell down.”

Deputy commissioner of police (Port) S W Raza said, “At  around 5 pm Mr Bose somehow fell down from a launch at Podra Ghat in Nazirgunj while on a picnic party.  Searching operation by DMG diving team and IRTP launch could not be successful yet.

In her complaint Mr Bose’s wife alleged that it was not an accident with an apprehension that some persons have murdered him.”

Mr Raza added that a case under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code has been started at the West Port police station against unknown.

The police have questionned some colleagues of Mr Bose and the boatmen.

Multiple theories have come up in their statements. Some claimed Mr Bose was in drunken state and he did not wear the life jacket. According to others, he slipped off while talking on the cellphone.

The police also collected some photographs taken in a group during the picnic.

Mr Bose joined Floatel as general manager on August 2014.

He earlier worked for nearly two decades across various leadership roles with The Sens Group where he served as the chief development officer and vice president
(operations) pan-India with a portfolio which mostly dealt with upcoming projects of that group.

Mr Bose was also responsible for the development and management of all owned and managed hotels and restaurants under the hotel’s brand, according to his profile on Floatel website.

Before that he served as director – food & beverage with Wellworth Hotels & Resorts, Dar-Es-Salaam, Africa. Mr Bose completed his hotel and catering management from Institute of Advanced Management in Kolkata.