An nine-year-old boy died after falling into an underground sewer drain owned by the Public Works Department while he was walking back home after attending tuition with his uncle and cousin in the Shakarpur area of North-west Delhi’s Rani Bagh on Monday night. The victim, identified as Anas, a class II student studying in a local school, died due to suffocation since he was stuck inside the sewer for more than three hours, complained locals.
According to the police, the incident took place at around 8.30 pm when Anas along with his uncle Naushad and cousin Mohsin (12) were walking back towards their home in Shakarpur area. “The lid of the underground drain was open and both Mohsin and Anas fell into it. I jumped into the drain along with a local to save the kids. Somehow we managed to take out Mohsin, however, as the flow of the water in the drain was very fast, we could not take out Anas on time,” said Naushad, Anas’s uncle. Moreover, he complained that the street lights were not working on the stretch of road due to which this tragedy occurred.
One of the locals allegedly said that the police and the fire department reached the spot three hours after the first PCR call was made.
“By the time the police came, the body of Anas was found 50 metres North from the sewer where he fell. This is not the first that such an incident has happened. Three months back, the lid of the sewer was open and a cow had fallen. We somehow managed to rescue the cow,” complained another local, requesting anonymity. Police said that Anas was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
Meanwhile, police have registered a case under Section 304 A (causing death by negligence) of the IPC at the Rani Bagh police station against unknown persons. Anas is survived by his parents and two younger sisters. His father works as a tailor.