Two young men who went with a group of friends to offer prayers at Bhoothnath Temple at Nimtala Ghat were reported missing in the Hooghly early on Monday, police said.
They were not found till Monday evening despite three attempts by teams of the Disaster Management Group of Calcutta police.
The police identified the two as Krish Soni, 21, and Banti Kumar, 21. Soni is a resident of Serampore, Hooghly, while Kumar is from Manikpur, Howrah.
“A group of young men went to Bhootnath Temple to offer prayers. Four of them went to the river to take a dip around 1.30am. There was a high tide. Two of them came back but the other two were swept away by a tide,” said an officer.
The two who came out of the water alerted cops.
The police started a search operation early on Monday. But the duo could not be found.
Soni was a BSc second-year student at a city college. Kumar was involved in his father’s business of packaging lemons at their Dhulagarh office in Howrah.
“Soni left home on Sunday to offer prayers at Bhoothnath Temple with his friends. Early on Monday, we received information that he went into the river and failed to return,” said a relative.
There were around 15 young men who went to the temple. Four of them went to take a dip in the river, cops said.
Soni’s family members reached the ghat early on Monday. A missing diary has been registered with North Port police station.
An officer said they had circulated photographs of the youths to all police stations and adjoining commissionerates across the Hooghly.
The others in the group told the police that neither Soni nor Kumar could swim.
