KULPI: A teenager from Haridevpur on the city’s southern fringes drowned in the Hooghly while clicking selfies, reportedly in an inebriated state, at Kulpi’s Nabadwip Ghat on Friday afternoon.  It was also alleged that the deceased was under the influence of alcohol when the incident took place. The deceased was identified as Rajib Das. The 18-year-old was a student of Class 12.

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The deceased was allegedly being accompanied by five of his friends. They reached around 1 pm and had lunch on the river bank. Locals said the six had been drinking alcohol. The group then reached a narrow area of the bank where the deceased lost his balance and fell into the river. His friends and locals said Das was pulled in deep by the waves that receded fast due to high tide.

Though the friends and the locals tried to pull the deceased out of the river, they could not hold him against the high tide. The deceased was allegedly nowhere to be seen within a few moments.  “We saw the boy taking selfies in various poses. We anticipated danger looking at the manner they were walking. We even warned them, but they did not heed our advice. They had consumed liquor prior to that,” said Pratima Mondal, a local.

A police official of the Kulpi police station said that the police reached the spot and deployed local divers to rescue the deceased. A disaster management team also reached the spot to jointly conduct a rescue operation. A disaster management team, too, reached the spot and joined in the rescue efforts. Police have detained the deceased’s friends for questioning. The father of the deceased alleged that his son and told him that he wanted to go to the Diamond Harbour with his friends. The father said that he did not suspect foul play behind his son's death. 

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