BUT IT WAS NEW!

Indian Official Suspended After Draining Reservoir to Save Busted Phone

32-year-old food inspector Rajesh Vishwas really didn’t want to give up his brand-new Samsung, so he drained a reservoir to get it back. It was already broken.

A government official in India really, really didn’t want to buy a new phone after he dropped his into the water—so he did the reasonable thing and drained an entire reservoir to get it back. 32-year-old food inspector Rajesh Vishwas fumbled his brand-new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, which he said contained government data, into a reservoir in central India on May 21, the New York Times reported. After some locals he enlisted to dive in search of the phone came up empty, Vishwas used a diesel pump to drain three feet of water. He eventually found his phone—which was, predictably, broken. Now he’s been removed from his job and is facing a media firestorm for wasting enough water to supply 1,500 acres of crops in an often drought-stricken country.