Ranchi, Dec. 8: A trip to Dasham Falls, 35 km from here, after exams turned into a nightmare this afternoon for four students of the Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Mesra, after one of them drowned.

The 24-year-old has been identified as Abhishek Mishra, a final year student of computer science. Sources said he was the only son of Subhash Chandra Mishra, director of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi.

The group included Ragini, daughter of railway minister Lalu Prasad, and a relative of former Jharkhand mines minister Ravindra Rai. The other student has yet to be identified. The trio has been detained.

Abhishek allegedly drowned around 3 pm, but his body had not been found even five hours later. He was the college’s cricket star and had been staying on the campus with friends even after winter holidays were declared.

The group was on its way back when Abhishek decided to return to the spot for some reason, possibly to relieve himself.

His friends waited some distance away, but when he did not return, they went back, only to find his clothes lying on the rocks.

A villager later told them he had seen a boy drown in the waterfall. The trio then called up the police.

The superintendent of police, Upendra Kumar, said he came to know about the incident around 4 pm. “The student drowned around 3 pm and we learnt about it an hour after the incident.”