In trying to save kin, 4 others of family drown

In one clean sweep, the Kamwari River wiped out 40-year-old Naresh Kene's entire family. The Ganeshpuri police found the five bodies in the water at Bhiwandi. The incident has left the residents of the small village shaken. Naresh, who works at Bhiwandi Municipal Corporation in the water supplies department and is a resident of Pundas village in Bhiwandi, lost his wife Kantabai (37), daughters Deepali (13) and Mayuri (9), and sons Sagar (11) and Sahil (7).u00a0

Sinking feeling: Kantabai's body being fished out from Kamwari River. Pic/Navneet Barhate

On Monday afternoon, Kantabai, along with the kids, had gone to the river for washing clothes. While Kantabai was doing the laundry, the children were studying on the riverbanks. Eventually they entered the water to take bath.

In too deep
"Kantabai and the four entered the deep portion of the river where the water is around 10 feet. One of the kids started drowning and the others went to help. Unfortunately, all of them were washed away," said S N Chaudhari, senior police inspector from Ganeshpuri. When the family did not reach home till Monday evening, Naresh and some villagers, including the sarpanch, started a search and found the five bodies floating in the river.

"Some locals have alleged foul play though the post mortem report says death due to drowning. We have asked the Indira Gandhi hospital in Bhiwandi that carried out the post-mortem to check for every eventuality and they have accordingly taken the viscera from the female bodies for further investigation," added Chaudhari.u00a0