Potharaju

The man found floating yesterday in the Tidal Basin is 35-year-old Sarath Kumar Potharaju, an Indian national living in Chicago who went missing on Easter Sunday while on vacation with family in D.C.

According to Ward 2 ANC Commissioner Kishan Putta, who hails from the same part of India as Potharaju and had been working with his family to find him since he disappeared, Potharaju’s family identified the body today.

Putta told us that three of Potharaju’s uncles arrived in D.C. yesterday, and his wife in Chicago and parents in India have been notified. The family is now working on arrangements to have his body sent to India.

This is the second body found in the Tidal Basin in as many weeks. Putta told us that he was concerned about safety around the basin, and hinted that multiple incidents could provoke a discussion over whether a railing is necessary to keep people from falling in. He said that no one has yet indicated how Potharaju may have ended up in the water, but he couldn’t swim.

“We don’t know what happened here, he could just have fallen in—anyone could fall in if they take the wrong step,” said Putta.