During Mundan ceremony, 2 UP girls slip into river Ganga; rescue attempt turns fatal, 4 drown

VARANASI: At least four persons, including two girls of a family, drowned in the river Ganga while bathing near Shivrampur Ghat under City Kotwali police station in Ballia district on Sunday morning. They all went to attend a Mundan (tonsuring) ceremony when the incident occurred. Local divers and SDRF retrieved all four bodies.

After taking stock of the incident site, Ballia's District Magistrate Mangala Prasad Singh and SP Omvir Singh said that around 8 am, four persons, including two girls, slipped into deep water while bathing in the river Ganga. On seeing them in trouble, local boatmen and divers swung into action, while police, fire brigade and SDRF also launched a search operation and succeeded in retrieving all four bodies.

The deceased were identified as Harshita Chauhan, 17, her sister Nandita Chauhan, 12, of Garh Rampur Bhoj under Gadwar police station; their relatives Arun Chauhan, 20, of Kalyanpur under Fefna police station in Ballia; and Arjun Chauhan, 19, of Ghazipur, who was currently residing at the home of his maternal uncle at Kalyanpur in Fefna, said CO (city) Mohd Usman, who camped at the ghat to monitor the search operation. The bodies were sent for post-mortem examination, and further legal proceedings were underway.

During the initial investigation, police found that family members and relatives of Vashisth Chauhan of Kalyanpur under Fefna police station area went to Shivrampur Ghat (Byasi) on Sunday morning to perform the rituals of Mundan (tonsuring) of a child.

Everything was proceeding normally, but around 8 am, four girls started to drown while bathing in the Ganga. On seeing them in trouble, people, including Arun and Arjun, and boatmen jumped into the river to save them. Two girls were rescued. However, Arun, Arjun, Harshita and Nandita could not be saved. The incident caused panic along the riverbank as cries and screams broke out among family members and relatives.

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