Two persons, including a local BJP leader, were swept away while crossing the overflowing Bainganga river in Madhya Pradesh's Seoni district, police said on Monday.

The incident took place late on the night of September 8 near Pusera village, about 15 km from here when BJP youth wing's district unit vice-president, Jai Sanodia (34) and his two acquaintances were returning to their native Singhodi village in a car.

When they reached a flooded bridge over the Bainganga river, which is in spate after heavy rains in the area, one of the car passengers got down to check the level of water on it, Superintendent of Police Kumar Prateek told PTI.

While he was checking the water level on the bridge, the car driver, Chandrashekhar Sanodia (36), moved the vehicle and lost control over the wheels, he said.

As a result, the BJP leader and the car driver got swept away in the overflowing river along with the vehicle, the official said.

The person who had got down from the car later alerted some villagers and police who rushed to the spot.

The two bodies were fished out from the river on the morning of September 10, the official said, adding that the car was also spotted at a short distance from the flooded bridge.

The bodies were sent for postmortem and a case was registered in connection with the incident, he said.