None of them has been traced so far, police said (Representational)
A man in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district reportedly threw his three sons into a river today before jumping in allegedly over a family dispute, police said.
A search operation was launched to trace them in the river, which is in spate due to heavy rain in the area, they said.
"The incident took place early morning at a bridge on the Maand river," Raigarh Superintendent of Police (SP) Santosh Singh said.
The man, identified as Kartikeshwar Rathiya and a native of Edu village, was headed to Barra village along with his sons Khirsagar (5), Narmada (3) and eight-month-old Tej Prakash on a motorcycle, he said.
He suddenly stopped the vehicle on the bridge and threw his children into the river and later jumped in, he said.
"After receiving information, police rushed to the spot along with some divers and started a search operation in the river. However, none of them has been traced so far," he said.
As per the preliminary information, family dispute is being suspected to be the reason behind the extreme step taken by Rathiya, a worker in the electricity wing of South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), he said.
Further investigation is in progress, he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)