Keonjhar: A 65-year-old mason drowned in a pond in Keonjhar district’s Tikarpada village while gathering lotus flowers on Sunday. The deceased was identified as Dinabandhu Mahanta of Madrangayodi village.Sources said Mahanta went to the pond at 8:30am to collect lotus flowers for puja in his home. However, he drowned after failing to gauge the depth of water. Some locals tried to rescue him, but failed. Subsequently, they informed fire service who reached the spot and recovered Mahanta’s body.A Sadar police team, led by sub-inspector Swarup Ranjan Nayak, reached the site and sent the body to Keonjhar district headquarters hospital for post-mortem. IIC of Sadar police station, Amit Kumar Bhuyan, said, “After autopsy, the body was handed over to his family.”
