Woman, three children drown in Telangana lake

Hyderabad, March 30 (IANS) In a tragic incident, a woman and her three minor children drowned in a lake in Telangana's Kamareddy district on Sunday.

The incident occurred at Venkatapur village in Yellareddy mandal of the district, about 140 km from Hyderabad, on Saturday afternoon, but only came to light on Sunday.

According to police, the incident occurred when a woman was washing clothes in the well and her three children entered the water to take a bath.

The children started drowning when they walked into a pit in the lake. Noticing this, the mother rushed to rescue them, but she too was drowned with the children.

The deceased were identified as Mounika, 26, and her three children - Maithili,10, Akshara, 8, and Vinay, 7.

Maithli and Akshara were students of Classes 6 and 5, respectively, while Vinay was studying in Class 3.

Initially, it was suspected that the woman had committed suicide after throwing the kids into the lake. However, a preliminary investigation by the police revealed that Mounika had come to the lake with children to wash clothes. The clothes kept by children at the lake's edge before entering the water were found intact.

Mounika’s husband Linagaiah, a daily wage worker, was away for work when she, along with the children, went to the lake. When he returned home, he did not find them. He enquired from neighbours and learnt that they had gone to the lake. He rushed to the lake and found only their clothes on the edge of the water.

He, along with the villagers, searched for them but in vain. On Sunday morning, their bodies were seen floating on the lake.

On receipt of information, police rushed to the spot and retrieved the bodies.

Police sent the bodies for autopsy and took up an investigation. Following the incident, a pall of gloom descended on Venkatapur village.

--IANS

ms/vd