Jamshedpur : A 31-year-old man was drowned while offering prayers to the rising sun during Chhat in Domuhani along the Sonari police station area early on Thursday morning.
The victim was identified as Guljari Prasad Shau, a resident of Bhuiyandih in Sitaramdera and father of three children. The police are yet to locate the body from the river-meet.
According to a relative, Guljari along his family from his house in Bhuiyandih to his brother-in-law’s were at Sonari for performing Chhat Puja since Wednesday.
Significantly, the victim’s family members have alleged that there was no arrangement of divers for safety of the devotees and claimed that had there been any divers at Domuhani.
“Though we had deputed six divers and 10 policemen for the safety of the devotees but still the incident took place . In fact the divers present at the Chhat Ghaat had plunged into the deep water at the sight of the drowning man, but they could not trace him,” said an official.
Domuhani is the meeting point of Subarnarekha and Kharkai and was about 15 feet deep at the spot. An administrative official who was at the Domuhani for looking after the body searching operation also confirmed that the water level at the point where the man drowned was about 15 feet deep.
The city has already witnessed drowning of seven youths near Subernarekha ghat in 2006. Administration made efforts of deploying swimmers and demarcating danger zones The ghats were already slippery with mud and slush. A fresh bout of rain led to more challenges for the administration and for the devotees.
