US: Met police seek launches probe after missing Indian student's body found in lake

In an effort to piece together the final movements of Gurashman Singh Bhatia, an Indian student who went missing and whose body was discovered by police divers in a lake in the Canary Wharf neighborhood of east London, the UK’s Metropolitan Police made a request for information on Thursday.

The 23-year-old was reported missing by the Met Police last Thursday, December 14, following a night out with friends.

Officers then conducted in-depth investigations, watching CCTV, interacting with witnesses, and examining financial and phone records. Police divers found a body in the water near South Quay that they believed to be that of Bhatia during water searches in the area.

Gurashman’s death is being treated as unexpected, and while there is nothing to suggest it was suspicious, we will ensure our investigation is as thorough as possible to confirm this, said Detective Chief Superintendent (DCI) James Conway, responsible for local policing in the Tower Hamlets area of Canary Wharf.

Because of this, we are releasing a CCTV image of Gurashman that was taken before his disappearance and would like anyone who may have seen him in the Marsh Wall area on the evening of Thursday, 14 December and in the early hours of Friday, 15 December, to contact us, he said.

Conway added that this was an extremely tragic outcome to their missing persons inquiry and not the news he was hoping to give to Gurashman’s family and friends.

“I send them my deepest condolences,” he said.

The police noted that although formal identification has not yet taken place, Gurashman’s family has been informed. Meanwhile, anyone with information about Gurashman’s movements has been asked to call 101 quoting the reference CAD5787/15Dec.

There had been widespread social media appeals by the Indian student community in the UK after the Sikh student was reported missing.

What a tragic, heartbreaking loss of one of our beautiful lives. I had spoken to his father and friends only some days ago when we first found out he was missing and had been praying for his safe discovery, said Sanam Arora, Chair of the National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) UK.

Our thoughts are with his family & friends. Requesting all to please say a prayer for the departed soul, she said.

Bhatia was pursuing an MSc in Digital Finance at Loughborough University. After he went missing last week, his case was also flagged with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar by BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

Deeply saddened to hear about the passing of G.S. Bhatia, a Loughborough University student who was missing since Dec 15th. Our thoughts are with the family and friends during this difficult time. May Waheguru give strength to his parents mourning this profound loss, Sirsa said in a social media post.