Three drown while bathing in Pagladia river

Guwahati:Three persons, including a couple who were engaged, drowned in the Pagladia River in Assam’s Baksa district near the Bhutan border on Sunday evening while bathing, officials said. The bodies were recovered later the same evening and the deaths were confirmed.Two of the victims were identified as Pinki Das, 25, and her fiancé Dibojyoti Darjee, 28, residents of Panjabari in Guwahati. The third victim, Guddu Deka, 38, Pinki’s sister, lived in Baksa after marriage and was identified as the wife of Manaranjan Deka of Niz-Barsiral village.District authorities said the three entered the river to bathe and drowned after getting trapped in a pit. Locals alleged illegal sand mining had created pits in the river and demanded action to stop such activities. Officials said some pits may have formed due to embankment construction work but denied any illegal sand mining.“The water level in the river was as usual and have not increased though rains have started lashing the state. The deaths occured in the pit on the river which may be created naturally or due to some human activities,” said an official.A report sent by the Baganpara revenue circle officer to the Baksa district commissioner said information about the drowning was received from the concerned gaon pradhan at around 4:30 pm on Sunday. The gaon pradhan said Pinki Das and Dibojyoti Darjee had come to visit Guddu Deka’s house and that all three went to bathe before the incident occurred.The report said locals recovered the bodies and took them to Nalbari Medical College Hospital, where they were declared dead.After post mortem on Monday, Guddu was cremated in Baksa, while the bodies of Pinki Das and Dibojyoti Darjee were sent to Guwahati for last rites.