A Chudakarana (tonsuring) ceremony of a two-year-old boy turned fatal for six of his family members, including three teenagers, who drowned in river Godavari, the downstream of Sriram Sagar project at Pochampad, in Nizamabad district on Friday. The project is about 220 km from the State capital.
The victims are Bobbili Srinivas (40), his two sons — Bobbili Siddhartha (16) and Srikar (14) from Yellammagutta, Suresh (40), and his son Yogesh (16) from Bikampally and Dodla Raju (24) of Guthpa village in Nizamabad district. Ravikanth (14) was rescued by locals Raju and Ravi.
Speaking to The Hindu, Nizamabad Deputy Commissioner of Police K.C.S. Raghuveer said that the victims along with other relatives entered the water for a holy bath. They were bathing at the VIP Pushkarghat, a platform constructed on river banks for devotees.
The incident took place around 10.30 a.m. when Srikar went deep inside the water and started struggling. Upon hearing his alarm, other victims went into the deep portion of the river in an attempt to rescue him and got drowned.
Police rushed to the spot, retrieved the bodies, and sent them to a government hospital for autopsy.
Mr. Raghuveer said that he had directed the village committee to set up public address systems to warn the devotees from entering into deep waters and install warning boards.
