Two-yr-old drowns in pool at Mehrauli farmhouse

NEW DELHI: A two-and-a-half-year-old child drowned after allegedly falling into a swimming pool at a farmhouse in south Delhi’s Mehrauli area, police said on Friday.

A case was registered in this connection against the farmhouse owner on Thursday, they added.

The family of the deceased toddler said the boy was playing near a construction site in the area on Wednesday evening, as he often did.

“That evening, we were working at the construction site near the farmhouse while he was playing nearby. Around 6.15 pm, he went back home after telling us he was hungry,” said Vipin, the child’s maternal grandfather.

He said the child’s mother fed him, after which he stepped out again, saying he was going to visit his aunt who lived nearby.

Vipin further said he worked as a mason and was engaged in construction work near the farmhouse along with the child’s father, identified as Bengali Majhi. The family had been staying in the area for the past three months after moving to the capital from Bihar’s Bhagalpur in search of work.

“He would usually move around between the houses and come to the work site to play. He was familiar with the area,” he added.

After the child went missing, family found his clothes near a farmhouse pool; his body was later recovered. Police have registered a case against the owner, probing possible safety lapses.