Five persons including a brother trio and their cousin were drowned while taking a holy dip on the occasion of Ganga Dusehrra on Thursday. The first incident took place at Rajghat where Niranjan (16), Radhey (16), and Shanti Prasad (17) sons of Kalicharan and their cousin brother Deepak – all residents of Garhai Sarai locality in New Basti area under Sasnigate police station in
Aligarh were taking a dip in the river. However, they were dragged away into the deep due to the strong water current. Though the victims raised an alarm, but by the time the local boatmen could swim to rescue them, four of them had drowned. Bodies of Niranjan, Shanti Prasad and Deepak were later retrieved from the river bed by the local boatmen. Police divers were also pressed into service by the local authorities. The divers continued their search for Radhey who was untraceable till late in the evening when the rescue work had to be called off due to poor light. Authorities said the rescue operations will resume on Friday morning.
In another incident that took place at Kalkatti Ghat situated a couple of kilometres away from where the first incident took place, a teenager Rakesh (15), a resident of Prem Chandra of Nagla Nepal locality
in Aligarh was also drowned while taking holy dip in the river on Thursday morning. tnnHis body was later retrieved by the local boatmen and police drivers pressed into service. Separate FIRs have been lodged in connection with the two incidents and the bodies of the deceased were sent for post-mortem examination to confirm the exact cause of death.
