2 drown in bid to escape from police

Two persons who plunged into River Malaprabha for evading police arrest met watery grave here on Sunday. The bodies were recovered on Monday.

The police raided a group of people who were gambling on the banks of the river in Ramdurg town on Sunday. In their attempt to escape arrest, some of them jumped into the river and managed to escape. However, Manjunath Laxman Bandiwaddar (28) and Sameer Mohammadsav Batkurki (23) drowned in the river.

The efforts by police and fire personnel to trace the two did not yield any result. Finally, the Natural Disaster Response Team from Belagavi recovered the bodies on Monday.

Family members and others alleged that police did not take measures to rescue them when both were drowning. Ramdurg police have registered a case.