Kanpur: A man and his nephew drowned while they had gone for fishing near a bridge over Panki canal in Bidhnu, Kanpur district late on Saturday evening. The victims were identified as Ramesh Paswan, also known as Paje (55), and his nephew Bablu (35), both from Khersa village.The incident came to light when they didn’t return home by late night after which their family started searching for them on Sunday morning. They found clothes of the victims and fishing nets by the canal and notified the authorities.The police, along with local villagers, conducted a two-hour search operation. Bablu’s body was found entangled in the net near the bridge, while Ramesh’s body was discovered about three hundred metres downstream.It is suspected that Bablu got caught in the fishing net and started drowning. His uncle Ramesh jumped into the canal to save him but failed and they both drowned due to the slippery surface and strong water current. After the incident, local residents criticised the canal department’s maintenance, highlighting that years of silt collected along the canal caused the accident. Bidhnu Inspector Jitendra Pratap Singh said that the bodies were sent for post-mortem examination.
