Seven-Day Search Ends with Symbolic Ritual for Ganga Victims

A frantic week of searching along the Ganga’s banks concluded without finding the bodies of Ankit Kumar, 20, and Shivam Kumar, 19, who drowned near Simriya Bholaghat in Begusarai district. The two friends, celebrated in their village for their firm bond and shared ambition to join the armed forces, disappeared while bathing after their early‑morning exercise routine.

The families of the missing youths faced bureaucratic inertia; repeated pleas for an NDRF rescue team were rebuffed, and the limited SDRF presence left after a few days. Undeterred, the relatives financed their own expedition, hiring boats, divers, generators and searchlights, traversing river stretches from Lakhsiraj to Bhagalpur. Despite exhaustive efforts, the river kept its secret.

In accordance with Vedic tradition, the community performed a ceremonial cremation using a kush‑made puppet after a full seven‑day interval, a practice meant to provide spiritual closure when physical remains are absent. The effigies were dressed, anointed, and cremated at the solemn Jaynagar Ganga ghats, as mourners recited prayers and prepared for subsequent rites such as Nakbhal, Ekadashi and Dwadashi.