NEW DELHI: A four-year-old boy who fell into a nearly 50-foot-deep sewer in Outer Delhi’s Ranhola area on Tuesday was found dead after an almost 20-hour search operation.His dismembered body was recovered around 3.5 km from the spot where he had fallen, at a water treatment plant in Nilothi, police said.Preliminary information suggests that the child, Imran, a resident of Som Bazar Wali Gali in Mohan Garden, had accompanied his mother to Dass Garden Park.
What happened
He reportedly moved towards the drain to attend to nature’s call when he accidentally fell into an open manhole alongside the service road. The manhole was allegedly covered with a thin fibre sheet.Cops said information about the incident was received at Ranhola police station at 3.20pm, following which a team rushed to the spot near Kheri Baba Pul.Delhi Fire Services personnel and teams of NDRF launched a joint rescue operation. However, the family has alleged that the initial search remained confined to the spot where the boy had fallen until Wednesday morning.According to the family, the boy fell into the sewer at 3pm. They claimed police reached the spot at 5pm, while NDRF personnel arrived between 6pm and 7pm. The family alleged the teams initially focused on the immediate vicinity of the accident site and didn’t trace the sewer route.The sewer is an underground, narrow passage through which sewage flows towards the treatment plant. The family said the boy’s body was eventually found at the Nilothi plant, around 3.5 km downstream from the point where he fell.A police officer said the body was located after the flow of water through the sewer was stopped. Manholes along the route were the only access points to the underground sewer, the officer said.The recovery has added to the family’s anguish. The boy’s father identified him by his hands, which had become separated from the body. The family said it had not yet seen the child’s face.
Past incidents
The remaining body parts were brought to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital in a cloth bundle for preservation and post-mortem examination.Police have registered a case under Section 106(1) of BNS, which deals with causing death by negligence. Further investigation is underway to establish the circumstances of the incident and determine responsibility.Speaking to TOI, a rescuer said the teams reached the spot soon after receiving information about the incident. “It was a difficult rescue operation as we had to open the covers of individual manholes along the sewer route. Entering the sewer was also challenging because of the presence of toxic gases. Rescuers had to use breathing apparatus sets to enter,” the rescuer said.More than 50 personnel were involved in the operation, he said. “During the night, we used searchlights to inspect the sewer as visibility was extremely poor. The process was time-consuming. Eventually, the teams reached the point where the sewer flow terminated, and the boy’s body was found there. It was an unfortunate outcome,” he added.According to a DJB official, information was received at 5.22 pm from an executive engineer (maintenance), DJB, that a child had fallen into a manhole of a sewer line in Nangli Vihar. The staff rushed to the spot and found cops, along with the NDRF team, had already initiated rescue operations.The site was also inspected by DJB officials. It was observed that the interceptor sewer line passes beneath the closed boundary wall of Najafgarh Drain, which falls under the jurisdiction of irrigation and flood control department.The cover of the concerned sewer manhole was found damaged. It was stated that all manhole covers installed along the interceptor sewer line are secured with nuts and bolts and cannot ordinarily be removed without appropriate tools.It was also submitted that entry into this stretch had been prohibited by police, and that a woman and a child had entered this area at 1.30pm Tuesday, following which he fell into the sewer.
