The deceased have been identified as Amit (17) and Rahul (19), residents of Sewa Nagar area of the city, they said.
The incident took place this evening when Amit and Rahul along with their five friends, identified as Ashu, Neeraj, Nakul, Mohit and Yash - all aged between 17 to 19, had gone to take a bath in the Ganga canal here.
"When they were taking a bath, Amit, Rahul, Ashu and Neeraj went to the deepest part of the canal and started to drown. Seeing this, Nakul, Mohit and Yash raised alarm for the help," a senior police officer said, adding but could not be saved.
The search operation was on to find the bodies of Neeraj and Ashu.