Woman, three daughters meet watery grave in Maharashtra's Sangli

A pall of gloom descended on a village in the Sangli district of Maharashtra as four members of a family drowned in a lake. However, the cause of their deaths is yet to be ascertained.

Sangli (Maharashtra): In a heart-rending incident, a woman and her three daughters drowned in a lake in the Sangli district of Maharashtra on Sunday. The bodies of the mother, along with three little girls, were found in the lake at Bilur village. The deceased have been identified as Sunita Tukaram Mali (27), Amrita Tukaram Mali (age 13), Ankita Tukaram Mali (age 10) and Aishwarya Tukaram Mali (age 7).

The incident came to light at 1 am on Monday. According to police, Tukaram Chandrakant Mali lives near Sutar Phata, which is two-and-a-half kilometres from Bilur village. He has a farm near the house and Lingnoor lake is nearby. His wife Sunita and three daughters went missing on Sunday morning. Even after searching all day, none of them was found.

He enquired about his family in the village, but in vain. After that, he lodged a missing complaint with the Jat police. After a search by the police, villagers and relatives, the bodies of all four were found floating in the lake. Later, the bodies were retrieved from the lake at 1 am on Monday. After that police conducted panchnama and shifted the bodies to a rural hospital for post-mortem. Following the deaths of the mother and three daughter a pall of gloom descended on the village. However, the cause of their deaths is yet to be ascertained. The police registered a case based on a complaint lodged by the deceased's husband and took up investigation.