LAGATAR 24 NETWORK
Daltonganj, July 21: Four minor girls from a private school got drowned in a water body at Sarja in Ramgarh block of Palamu.
The tragedy occurred late Thursday afternoon. All four bodies were retrieved last night itself.
Ramgarh block BDO Parth Nandan said the four deceased girls have been identified as Chaya Xaxa (5 years old), Salmi Kumari (6 years old), Archana Kumari (6 years old) and Aradhna Kumari (8 years old).
Archana and Aradhna are siblings, said Nandan, adding that the parents of all four girls are migrant workers.
The officer-in-charge of the Ramgarh police station Prabhat Kumar Rai said police got the drowning information around 8 at night.
With the help of the cops and the locals all four bodies were fished out at night itself, said Rai.
Rai said it was said in the beginning that only 2 had drowned but later the local divers found two more girls dead in the water.
All four girls were from the private school Shaheed Nilamber Pitamber School, Sarja. This school had been established by the Naxalites in the nineties. The Naxalites were of the then CPI-ML Party Unity.
All the four found drowned were in the school uniform but their bags and books were not around the water body.
It is yet to be ascertained if the girls bunked their classes and reached the water body or at first they went home and then entered into the water body only to die by drowning. The tragedy appears to have occurred after school time, said sources.
Police officer Prabhat Kumar Rai said as post-mortem is not usually done at night, all four bodies have been sent to the MMCH Daltonganj today for the autopsy.
