Sister tries to save sibling from drowning in Sodepur, both die

Express news service Posted: Apr 01, 2008 at 0133 hrs
Kolkata, March 31 Two sisters drowned in a local pond at Sodepur in North 24 Parganas on Monday morning when they were having a bath on the pond’s bank.

Eleven-year-old Ria Chakraborty, the older of the duo, died in a bid to save her nine-year-old sister Sudakshina from drowning after the latter slipped into the pond.

Both the sisters did not know swimming.

“The duo used to have a bath at the pond everyday. Sudakshina suddenly slipped while taking a bath and started to drown. When Ria saw it she jumped into the pond in an attempt to save her sister. However, she failed and both the children drowned,” said Supratim Sarkar, Superintendent of Police of North 24-Parganas district.

After knowing about the incident, the locals rushed to the pond and managed to fish out the bodies from the water.

They were taken to Panihati state general hospital where they were declared “dead on arrival”.

But soon a trouble began after the family members alleged that the sisters were alive and they had seen them moving their legs and arms. Subsequently, angry members rampaged the hospital and police was immediately brought in. Five persons were arrested in connection with the incident. The body was later sent for the postmortem.

Missing Muchipara boy found floating in Hooghly
Mystery shrouds the death of a 15-year-old boy from Muchipara whose body was found floating in the Hooghly on Monday.

Arijit Ghosh had left his house around 6 am on Friday along with his three friends to take a bath in the river. While his three friends returned to their homes, Ghosh mysteriously disappeared. His father lodged a complaint and even enquired about his son’s whereabouts from his three friends. But they said that they had no clue about it. The police are now suspecting victim’s three friends.

“What raised our suspicions was that Ghosh’s friends didn’t say anything about his mysterious disappearance. When questioned today, they told neighbours that he got drowned in the river while taking a bath. They failed to come up with any satisfactory explanation when asked why they were silent about the mishap. They failed to explain why didn’t they raise an alarm when their friend was drowning,” said an officer.

Vineet Goyal, DC (Headquarters) of the city police said, “The boys will be questioned.”

“Though no complaint of foul play has been lodged on behalf of the victim’s family, there are rumours that the boy was thrown in the river by his friends,” said a senior officer.