An Ace Swimmer's Body Found In Veer Dam, 30 Hours After Drowning
The deceased Vinod Gende had previously rescued four people from drowning. He is survived by his wife and three married sisters.
Published : January 9, 2026 at 4:36 PM IST
|Updated : January 9, 2026 at 5:03 PM IST
Satara: A young man was reported to have drowned at the Veer Dam in Satara district of Maharashtra. The deceased has been identified as 34-year-old Vinod Suresh Gende. Gende was known to be an ace swimmer who had previously saved numerous people from drowning.
According to the information shared by Gende's family to the police, he had gone near the Veer Dam area on January 7, 2026, with his two friends - one, a rickshaw driver from their building and the security guard from their housing complex - for a party. After that, they were informed that Gende had disappeared.
Constable Ajay Zhunjar, attached to the Shirval Police Station, told ETV Bharat, "The Mahabaleshwar, Pratapgad, and Shirwal rescue teams were informed about the incident. However, it had got pitch dark by the time the police could deploy rescue teams, as it prevented the search efforts."
"The following day, on Thursday, January 8, 2026, around 10 AM, when the sun was bright, we deployed rescue teams to search on land and in the dam waters. With the help of hikers and also rescue team boats, search operations began in the areas of Mahableshwar, Pratapgad, and Shirwal," added Zhunjar.
Zhunjar said, "Vinod Gende's body was found at around 6 PM on Thursday. After retrieving it from the dam water, the body was taken to the rural hospital for a post-mortem. Death due to drowning was confirmed in the post-mortem."
Gende used to live in Kothrud, Pune, though his hometown was Vitthalwadi-Mulshi. His parents had died during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gende has three married sisters. He was married for a year. His relatives and friends are in deep shock since the news of his death.
According to his friends, Gende often swam in the Mulshi dam and was a great swimmer. In the past, he had saved three people from drowning in a canal on the Khadakwasla-National Defence Academy (NDA) route in Pune. In another incident, he had saved a person who was drowning in a canal close to Seven Love Chowk in Swargate in Pune. People in the Kothrud area have expressed anguish to his family after hearing this tragic news.
Read More
