4 drown as birthday party turns tragic in Nagpur

NAGPUR: Gaurav Moundekar’s birthday turned into a tragedy as he and three others drowned while partying at Mohpa Zilpi lake on Tuesday. The three friends have been identified as Sanjana Dhakate, Suraj Wakodekar and Shubham Umredkar.
More than 74 persons have so far drowned in the lake. The deceased are from central Nagpur’s Golibar Chowk and Tandapeth localities.
Gaurav’s family had arranged for a get-together in the evening on the occasion.When Gaurav informed his mother of his plans of celebrating with friends, she dissuaded him from going. But Gaurav, who is a second year Arts student and whose father Hiraman is a former corporator, went ahead with his plans.
He and a dozen other friends assembled at Ajni from where they purchased the birthday cake and other eatables before heading to Mohpa Zilpi on bikes.
The group was enjoying the outing when Sanjana, a resident of Shanti Nagar, entered the water to wash her hands. She slipped and was drawn into deeper water. Sanjana raised an alarm attracting the attention of the others.
Suraj, Shubham and Gaurav rushed to help. The boys failed to rescue Sanjana, who was slowly going down, and also got trapped in the process. Soon all four disappeared in the water. The others raised an alarm but could not get anyone to help the youngsters in the water.
The relatives of the deceased were soon informed. Cops from Hingna police station and fire brigade too reached the place. The bodies of the youngsters were fished out from the lake. The relatives of the deceased, particularly birthday boy Gaurav, were learnt to be inconsolable.
The bodies were sent for post-mortem to a government hospital in Hingna. The cops have registered the case as accidental death.