Bodies found in Ganga in UP, probe on

Several decomposed bodies were found floating in the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur district, hours after a similar incident was reported from the neighbouring Bihar’s Buxar district on Monday.

The bodies were spotted in the Bara and Gahmar villages in the district in Monday evening prompting the local administration to initiate a probe into the matter.

Former head of Gahmar village, Durga Prasad Chaurasia, said that locals informed administrative officials after over a dozen bodies were spotted in the river. “Our officials are present on the spot and an investigation is underway. We are trying to find out where these bodies came from,” Ghazipur district magistrate MP Singh said.

The sub-divisional magistrate of Sevrai division, Ramesh

Kumar Maurya, said that two of the bodies found in Bara area appeared to be a fortnight old.

“I received information that two bodies were floating in the Ganga in Bara area of Ghazipur. This is a matter of grave concern,” Maurya said. Bara shares its border with Bihar’s Buxar district and is located just a few kilometres from Gahmar.

While he said he was not sure where the bodies might have come from, Maurya refused to comment on the Buxar administration’s claim that the bodies found in Bihar had floated from Uttar Pradesh.

The sight of the bodies, however, sparked fears about the spread of Covid-19 among the locals. Head of Mubarakpur village in Ghazipur district, Shyamnarayan Singh, said there were reports of some families immersing the bodies in the Ganga as they could not afford to buy wood for cremation. “Such