MP farmer, his son die after jumping into river, daughter missing: Police

Sohagi police station in-charge Pawan Shukla said the incident took place at 9:30pm on Thursday at Rajapur bridge in Rewa. “The farmer parked his bike on the bridge over Tamas river and kept the mobile phone on the bike before jumping from the bridge…. The search operation was started on Friday morning,” he said.

Police said the body of the farmer and his four-year-old was fished out from the river 20 km away in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj. There is no word on his five-year-old daughter who was also with him. Police said a team of the State Disaster Response Force has been searching for the little girl since morning.

The deceased father said his son left home on his motorcycle with his two children, ostensibly to buy them school uniform. “When he didn’t return till 9pm, his wife called him up. My son said that he would reached home soon. When she couldn’t get through to him again half an hour later, his wife reached out to a relative for help. When Manjhi called his number, a stranger received the call and told him that the motorcycle and phone were at Rajpur bridge”.

“We reached Rajapur bridge and searched around, but my son and both the children were not found. After this, the police were informed , he added.

Police said it is not clear why the man died by suicide. His father speculated it could have been due to a debt.

The father said he was a member of credit co-operative society and had taken a loan to make the downpayment for a loading vehicle. “He was facing difficulty repaying the loan and paying the instalment of the vehicle. He might have taken this extreme step due to this,” he added.

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