A heartbreaking incident in Motihari saw a mother and her four children drown in a river on Friday. Following the tragic event, the family performed the last rites for all five members together that night, plunging the entire village into mourning. The sight of the father performing the cremation of his four children brought tears to everyone's eyes.

The incident occurred in the Govindganj police station area. The deceased have been identified as Susheela Devi (30), wife of Dharmendra Kumar, and their children Amrita Kumari (11), Avinash Kumar (8), Pammi Kumar (6), and Ravi Kumar (4). Bahadur Mahto, the deceased's father-in-law, stated that his eldest son, Dharmendra, lived separately with his wife and four children. Dharmendra, a laborer, had returned home about three months ago for paddy transplantation.

On Thursday evening, Susheela Devi was heading to the fields to cut fodder for cattle. Dharmendra tried to stop her, offering to fetch the fodder himself, but she insisted and took all four children with her. Meanwhile, Dharmendra went to the market. When he returned in the evening, Susheela and the children were not home. The family searched extensively nearby but found no trace of them. They initially thought she might have gone to her maternal home in Pipra, and the search was called off for the night.

The search resumed the next morning. Soon, some village girls who had gone to graze goats near a marshy area (chanwar) spotted a body floating in the water. They informed the village, and locals arrived to identify the body as Susheela Devi. Subsequently, the bodies of all four children were recovered one by one. With the help of villagers, all five bodies were brought out of the water.

This devastating incident has cast a pall of grief over the entire village. Tears flowed freely as five bodies were taken from the house simultaneously. Bahadur Mahto, in deep sorrow, lamented, “I never imagined that my son’s entire family would be wiped out like this. Whenever I returned home, all the children would hug me, calling 'Dada-Dada'. Now, who will hug me, who will call me Dada…?” He repeatedly broke down in tears.

Villagers speculate that the incident site had a pit due to soil erosion. It's possible that the mother was cutting grass while the children were collecting snails, and they might have fallen into the deep water. In an attempt to save them, all might have drowned one by one. Govindganj Station House Officer Sachchidanand Pandey stated that the police are investigating every aspect to determine if it was merely an accident or if there are other underlying causes.