The incident occurred yesterday when Markandey Singh (35), a resident of Sonebarsa of Pipraich block, went into deep waters of the Rapti river to perform a ritual for his paternal uncle who died on Tuesday, family sources said.

Seeing Singh drown, the family members and others raised an alarm and tried to save him but it went in vain, police said. The body has been sent for postmortem, police said.