A 20-year-old daily wage worker drowned in Retteri Lake near Rajamangalam on Monday evening. In a bid to evade a police patrol team, he jumped into the lake.

Fire and rescue personnel later recovered his body and sent it for a post-mortem.

Around 3.45 p.m. on June 16, residents of Sivasakthi Nagar told the Rajamangalam police station that four persons were allegedly consuming alcohol and smoking ganja on the 10^th street of the area, the police said. Subsequently, a police patrol team went to the spot for verification.

On seeing the patrol vehicle, the youths fled the spot. While three of them escaped, the other person, identified as Gerald David, allegedly jumped into the Lake to avoid being caught by the police. When he did not resurface, the police launched a search and informed the Kolathur Fire and Rescue Services Personnel, who retrieved the body around 6.40 p.m.

Gerald David Johnson, a resident of Rajamangalam near Villivakkam, was a daily wage labourer.

Following a complaint, the Rajamangalam police have registered a case and the body had been shifted to the Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital for a post-mortem.

Initial investigation indicated that Gerald David and the three other youths had allegedly been consuming alcohol and smoking ganja in the area before the arrival of the police patrol team.