Tragedy at picnic: 4 drown,one missing at Parichha dam

Jhansi SSP K Ejilearassane said the police were informed about the incident by locals late last night. Families of the victims were unaware about the incident until the police contacted them last night,he said. The divers began a search this morning and found four bodies.

The SSP said the police collected details about the victims with the help of their mobile phones found near the dam.

Kapil Dev,circle officer of Month,said Ankit Singh,Sandip Verma and Lokesh Dikshit,all between 20 and 22,had come from Ramabai Nagar to Jhansi yesterday. Ankit met his cousins Preeti Chauhan (18) and Neha (17) at Parichha colony and they all went to the dam for a picnic.

One of the mobile phones contained pictures of the boys and Preeti having fun in the water. It was around 10.30 pm when the policemen at the Parichha outpost were informed by some employees of the nearby thermal power plant about five pairs of slippers and four mobile phones lying near the dam.

They also said they had seen some boys and girls at the place in the evening,the CO said. The divers began a search this morning and first recovered Preeti’s body. Later,the bodies of three boys were found. Neha’s body could not be traced until evening.

He said Preeti’s father Srikant Chauhan is a constable and is posted at the Moolganj police station of Kanpur. He was posted with the Badagaon police station in Jhansi till a month ago. Preeti and Neha were students of BA-I and class XII,respectively,in Jhansi. Ankit was Srikant’s sister’s son.

The CO added that the family members told the police that the boys and the girls did not know swimming.