The sadhus, many of them naked, dreadlocked and smeared in ash, ran to the river amid heavy security.

BBC: Kumbh Mela chief Azam Khan resigns over stampede

Four security fences and a team of border patrol vehicles deter improvised river crossings.

FORBES: Why Is Mexico's Murder City Attracting Investors?

Investors in iControl include ADT, Charles River Ventures, Cisco, Comcast Interactive Capital, GE Security, Intel Capital and the Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers iFund.

ENGADGET: Xfinity Home Security makes home monitoring and management Comcastic (video)

But their chief concern at the moment is the security of a Chinese construction firm which is building a hydro-power project on the Indus river in the Dubair area of Kohistan.

BBC: In the shadow of Pakistan's Taliban war

Quoting another police officer, AFP news agency said that security forces shot at a crowd who pelted stones at officials as they recovered the body from the river.

BBC: Kashmir clashes continue as residents defy curfew

Li Zhuqun, a senior international co-operation official at China's Ministry of Public Security said the gang had now been broken up, but that "efforts to ensure the safety of the Mekong River will continue".

BBC: China parades foreign Mekong killers before execution