Arijit Ghosh, who went for an early morning swim on Saturday, but failed to return home. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Four teenagers went to Babughat for an early morning dip on Saturday. Only three returned.

The trio kept mum in the face of persistent questioning on what had happened to the fourth, Arijit Ghosh, only to reveal the next day that he had drowned in the Hooghly.

The body of the 16-year-old Muchipara resident was recovered by a team from South Port police station on Sunday evening. Father Animesh, who works in a soft drink bottling plant in Taratala, and mother Shukla identified Arijit on Monday morning.

“Early on March 29, Arijit went out with three friends for a dip in the Hooghly. Unlike his friends, Arijit could not swim. He drowned around 6.30am. We are trying to reconstruct the events,” said Vineet Goyel, the deputy commissioner of police (headquarters).

“There are no major injury marks on the body. We are not ruling out the possibility of Arijit being pushed into the water,” said an officer.

All four studied in a central Calcutta school, which Arijit left last year after failing to clear his Class IX exams. He took admission in another school in the locality in Class X.

Police said Arijit mostly stayed with his grandmother in Serpentine Lane, close to his parents’ house.

“On Saturday morning, Arijit’s friends called him up on his cellphone and asked him to come over to Babughat for a dip in the river,” said cousin Manish. “Before leaving, Arijit took Rs 1,500 from his grandmother. Part of the amount — Rs 1,100 — was to be paid for the electricity bill.”

When he failed to return till 10pm on Saturday, the family lodged a missing diary and spoke to the friends who were with him at Babughat.

“But the friends denied any knowledge about him. It was only on Sunday evening that they revealed that the boy had drowned,” said an officer.

The police searched his room and found a piece of paper with a girl’s name written on it.