Six students drowned during a Ganesh idol immersion at Neredukunta Cheruvu in Peddakanjerla, within the limits of Patancheru police station, on Wednesday, prompting police to arrest the warden of the Sirisha Memorial Charitable Trust. Police said the trust management had not obtained permission for the immersion or informed authorities about the event.
According to the police, eight students from the trust entered the lake at around 5.30 pm carrying the idol for its third-day immersion. They reportedly stepped into deep pockets in the lake bed and began drowning. Two students were rescued, while six died.
Other students and workers from a nearby construction site rushed to the lake and helped rescue two of those who had entered the water, police said. The lake is located close to the trust’s premises, where the idol had been installed before the group travelled to the immersion point.
Police said the trust’s warden accompanied the students to Neredukunta Cheruvu and was present during the immersion. The officer alleged that the warden did not enter the water to supervise the process. The police arrested the warden in connection with the deaths.
An officer said organisers were required to inform the police about the immersion of any idol measuring three feet or more. According to the police, a website had been created for organisers to submit details so that authorities could make arrangements and provide assistance along the route to the immersion point.
The police said the trust management did not seek permission for the immersion and did not inform the authorities before taking the students to the lake. The account provided by the police places the incident within a wider system of immersion-related safety arrangements, in which authorities need advance information about the location, route and scale of an event to organise assistance.
The incident occurred when the students entered the water together with the idol and encountered deeper sections of the lake bed. Police said the warden was present at the site, while rescue efforts were carried out by other students and workers from the nearby construction site. Further official details about the case and the next steps in the investigation were not provided in the report.
