Five of family drown in Udhampur as car plunges into rivulet
Family was enroute to Chenani in their brand new vehicle; bodies of man, his minor daughter recovered so far
JAMMU: Three days after a couple and their three children drowned after their brand new car plunged into the swollen Khagote nullah (rivulet) in J&K’s Udhampur, police and the SDRF have recovered the bodies of the man and his minor daughter.
Ramnagar sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) GR Bhardwaj, “The brand new car, an Alto, had veered off a sharp bend before hitting the railings of a bridge over Khagote nullah on July 20 around 8.30pm.”
The dead bodies have been identified as that of Mohan Lal, 40, a government school teacher and his eight-year -old daughter.
“It was raining heavily at the time of the accident. On Wednesday, our search teams recovered body of Mohan Lal and today (Thursday) we found the body of the little girl from the rivulet,” said Bhardwaj.
The rivulet is situated on the Ramnagar-Udhampur road.
Bhardwaj said Mohan Lal, his wife Rekha Devi and three children, aged three, eight and 10 had left Langa village in Ramnagar for Chenani to meet his sister in his newly purchased car.
“We have found the mobile phone of the deceased, a few accessories, mats and the smashed windscreen of the car from the site of accident. We learnt of the accident around 8.30pm on July 20 after Mohan Lal’s nephew told us that his uncle, who left with his family had not reached his house and his mobile phone was also switched off,” said Bhardwaj.
“It appears that instead of applying brakes on a sharp slanting bend just before the bridge, the victim stepped on the accelerator and the car crashed into railings before plunging into the rivulet,” said Bhardwaj.
“It rained today as well in the area but the search teams are trying to trace the three others— Mohan Lal’s wife and his two minor sons,” add the officer.