A 16-year-old youth drowned in the Manyad River at Ghodaj in Kandahar taluka, Nanded District on Tuesday afternoon. The deceased has been identified as Sandeep Ananda Ghodjkar, a Class XI student from Ghodj.
Ghodjkar had gone to witness the Ganesh idol immersion on the Manyad River near Ghodaj village on Tuesday afternoon. While public Ganesh mandal immersions typically occur late in the evening with processions, some locals immerse smaller household Ganesh idols earlier in the day.
According to reports, Ghodjkar jumped from a bridge into the river to swim and view the immersion. He did not resurface, despite efforts by several people to locate him. The body was recovered a short time later.
Bhimrao Ladekar, the village police Patil, informed the Khandar police about the incident. The tragedy has cast a pall of gloom over the Ghodjkar family and the entire village.