A senior Indian government official, who approved a reservoir to be drained so his colleague could find his phone, has been fined more than £500.

Sub divisional officer RK Dhivar was handed the fine after reportedly giving food inspector Rajesh Vishwas verbal permission to drain the Kherkatta dam after he dropped his Samsung smartphone in while taking a selfie.

Mr Dhivar has been fined 53,000 rupees (£518) for ordering the draining of the dam, according to local media.

Over three days, more than two million litres of water were pumped from the reservoir so Mr Vishwas could retrieve the mobile, a move which led to his suspension.

The lead engineer of the Indravati project – which helps divert water for the purposes of irrigation and electricity production – reportedly wrote to Mr Dhivar and inquired why the cost of wasted water should not be salvaged from his salary.

The letter, on 26 May, highlighted that water was needed in all reservoirs for irrigation and other purposes during the summer.

Local media reported that the emptied water would have been enough to irrigate at least 1,500 acres of land.

Mr Vishwas said he had called Mr Dhivar and “requested him to allow me to drain some water into the nearby canal if there was no problem in doing so”, according to NDTV.

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“He said it was not an issue if 3 – 4ft deep water was drained, and would in fact benefit the farmers who would have more water. That’s why I got help from locals to drain around 3ft of water and got my phone back,” Mr Vishwas said in a televised report.

Claiming the phone contained sensitive government data, when locals could not find the phone, Mr Vishwas asked for the reservoir to be emptied using diesel pumps.

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The water resources department official later told local media that he had given permission for 5ft of water to be drained, but a lot more was taken out.

The waterlogged phone was recovered, but would not switch on. The inspector was widely criticised for wasting water resources.

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