The Panvel Taluka police fished out two youths with the help of divers who drowned while immersing a Ganpati idol in the Gadhi river on Monday night. While the body of one of the youths was found on Tuesday morning, the other was found in the afternoon.
The deceased were identified as Rajshekhar Jamadar, 20, and Vikram Jamadar, 21. Both were cushion brothers and residents of Commanders Renaissance Society along the Panvel-Matheran road in Koproli in Panvel under the Panvel Taluka police station.
According to police, they had gone for the immersion of the Ganpati idol in the society. "While five to seven people, including both of them, had gone inside the Gadhi river for the immersion of the idol, one of the brothers slipped and started drowning," said an on-duty police official from Panvel Taluka police station. He added that in order to save his brother, another ventured. However, since he did not know how to swim, he also drowned. "Since it was dark, people present over there could not trace them, they sought help from the police," said the official.
According to residents, they did not have any idea about the depth of the river and ventured deep while immersing the idol.
"While Rajshekhar was fished out in the morning, Vikram could be traced around 3.30 pm on Tuesday after a whole day of search operation by divers," said the police official. Meanwhile, an accidental death report was registered and the body was sent for a postmortem. "We will investigate whether they knew how to swim or not," said the police official.
(To receive our E-paper on whatsapp daily, please click here. To receive it on Telegram, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
