Post News Network
Bhawanipatna: Three college students who had gone on a picnic to celebrate Christmas vacation drowned in a stream at Paringdoro waterfall near Gundari under Lanjigarh block, about 15-km from here in Kalahandi district Sunday, police said.
The group of students from different colleges had gone to the picnic spot, where the mishap took place, they said.
Some of the revellers were taking bath in a stream nearby when three of them, aged around 16-17 years, fell into deep waters and drowned, police said.
While two youths were identified as Sunil Panda (17) and Vikram Pati (17), both students of Plus II science in Bhawanipatna Government Junior College, Sourabh Nayak (18) was identified as student of Pragati Science College (also Plus II), they said.
Family members however, cried foul over the incident and termed the death of three youths as conspiracy for murder. They claimed the students were either killed or poisoned and demanded a high-level inquiry to unravel the truth.
Sources said, the deceased boys were taking private lessons in chemistry under the tutelage of Chinmaya Guru, a lecturer of Pragati Science College, and had gone to Paringdoro waterfall as part of his tuition group picnic. They left for the site onboard two Bolero jeeps in the morning and went to take bath in the waterfall after alighting the vehicles. However, when the three did not turn up for lunch Guru and other students went to find them, but in vain. They sought the help of locals who rescued the three youth from the stream. They rushed them to the district headquarters hospital where the doctors declared them dead on arrival.
Guru and other students left the bodies at the hospital and fled as they learnt that the three had died. Tension, however, prevailed when the relatives of the students reached the hospital on hearing about the death. They gheraoed the two doctors on duty and cried foul over the death.
On being informed, police reached the spot and managed to placate the bereaved families while rescuing the two doctors. Later the bodies were sent for post-mortem.
