9-year-old drowns in unfilled artificial pond during rain, family alleges murder
The boy, Yash Sharma, went missing on Saturday afternoon, following which a kidnapping case was registered at the Ranhola police station. Police said that due to rainfall, the pond was filled and the boy, who wanted to take a dip, drowned
New Delhi
The body of a nine-year-old boy, who reportedly drowned in an artificial pond created for Chhath Puja in Nangli Vihar, near Najafgarh drain, was recovered on Monday, two days after he was reported missing, police said. The boy’s family alleged that he was murdered and the body was thrown in the pond to make it appear as a drowning incident.
The boy, Yash Sharma, went missing on Saturday afternoon, following which a kidnapping case was registered at the Ranhola police station. Police said that due to rainfall, the pond was filled and the boy, who wanted to take a dip, drowned. Sections of drowning under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) were to the FIR, police said.
Police said that they were probing the exact cause of the drowning and ascertaining the landowning agency responsible.
In the 24 hours leading up to 8.30am on Sunday, 36.5mm of rainfall was recorded at the Najafgarh weather station, which is a few kilometres from the area. This monsoon, there have been at least 15 deaths by drowning.
Chandni Sharma, the boy’s mother, said she was going out for work when her son said he was going to her sister’s house, which in the same neighbourhood. “I panicked when my elder son, Murari Lal Sharma,12, told me that Yash had not gone to my sister’s house and he was missing. I approached the police around 8pm. The next morning, around 7.30am, a person told me about the drowning of a child in the Chhath Ghat. I went there and found my son’s body floating on the water,” she said, adding that her husband, Khem Chand Sharma, was in Rajasthan for work.
Police countered the allegations by saying that footage from CCTV cameras installed near the pond showed the boy entering the pond.
“As per the inquiry, two boys went to the pond to take bath in the rainwater pool. They had been there on other days as well. After around two hours, the other boy did not see the deceased. He thought he may have returned home. An autopsy of the body was conducted and handed over to the family for the last rites,” deputy commissioner of police (outer) Jimmy Charam said.
The mother said, “My son was with another boy. It’s not possible that the other boy did not see my son drowning. He must have told his parents about the drowning.”
She said she also suspects that a relative may be involved in the death. “ Around two years ago, my son had seen the relative involved in indecent acts and told us about it. The relative had been threatening to kill him since them. The police should quiz him as well.”
Baprola councillor Ravinder Solanki, of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), under whose jurisdiction the area falls, said the 1.5-acre area, which comprises a park and Chhath ghat, belongs to the irrigation and flood control (I&FC) department. Solanki alleged that the department did not fill in the artificial pond after last year’s Chhath Puja.
“The pond got flooded with the rainwater because it was not filled. The child went to take bath and drowned in the pond,” Solanki said.
The I&FC department did not respond to requests for comment.
Police said the boy was a Class 5 student of an MCD-run school; his father worked as a driver and his mother was a homemaker.
“On Sunday, at 8.17am, the police control room received a call regarding the body found in a Chhath Ghat (pond) near Najafgarh drain. No external injury mark was found on the body and it was later sent to Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital for a post-mortem examination,” Chiram said.