2 brothers drown in river while performing Raksha Bandhan ritual in UP

In a tragic incident, two teenaged brothers drowned in the Mandakini river while performing a ritual on Raksha Bandhan here today, police said.

According to the police, Shyamu Verma (17) and Bhanu Verma (15) had gone to the river along with their sister to perform 'Kajli Visarjan', a ritual performed in the Bundelkhand region before a sister ties 'rakhi' on a brother's wrist.

During the ceremony, Shyamu slipped and fell in the river. Bhaju jumped into the river in a bid to save his brother.

Unfortunately, both of them drowned in the river, a police officer said.

The incident took place in Kashai village under Karwi police station limit.

The bodies have been fished out and sent for post-mortem, the police officer said.