BHOPAL: A young businessman and his wife returning to their village in driving rain drowned after their SUV was swept away in the flood waters of a nullah in Mhow in Indore district of Madhya Pradesh just past midnight on Sunday. The couple’s bodies were found dead in the SUV two hours later, 2 km downstream.
Ghanshyam Jariya (38) and Baby (35) were returning from Ramnagar village to their native Kodariya village in an SUV half an hour past midnight. It had been raining heavily in the area and their vehicle was washed away in the overflow from the nullah near Kodariya in the Badgonda police station area.
Villagers who saw the SUV being swept away informed the police and personnel from Badgonda, Mhow and Kishanganj police stations swung into action.
“We spotted the vehicle 2 km from where it was lost. We extricated it from the nullah with the help of villagers. The couple had died in the vehicle,” said Arun Kumar Solanaki, the officer in charge of the Kishanganj police station.
A native of Kodariya village in the Badgonda area of Mhow, Ghanshyam Jariya is the owner of a company which supplies snacks like potato chips all over the country, particularly South, West and Central India. The couple is survived by three children.
According to the Madhya Pradesh meteorological department, heavy rain was reported in Mhow in Indore and Nalcha in adjoining Dhar district late on Sunday night. Both towns reported over 7 cm of rain.
The Met office warned of more heavy rain in various parts of the state, including Indore, Ujjain and Hoshangabad divisions, besides a few places in Sehore, Raisen, Rajgarh and Bhopal districts over the next 24 hours.