The dead body of 4-year-old Jaskaran was found in the one of unused wells in Behra village, about 9-km from Dera Bassi, five days after he had gone missing. A crime investigation agency (CIA) team led by superintendent of police (SP) (Detective) Balwinder Brar traced the body during a search of the village wells on Monday afternoon.
Though parents, relatives and the panchayat have called it murder, the police have ruled out any fowl play. The body was sent to the Dera Bassi civil hospital for an autopsy to be conducted by a board of three doctors on Tuesday.
Jaskaran alias Kalu, was the only child of Bagh Singh and Simran Kaur. His father is an auto-rickshaw driver. Jaskaran was playing with his younger cousin in the street infront of his house before going missing around 6pm on January 9. Though his parents had ruled out personal enmity, the police had registered an abduction case under Section 365 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against unidentified people.
Jaskaran was found in the water with his back visible. The well is nearly 100 feet deep, with a water level of 10 feet, and is just around 100 metres from the victim's house.
Brar was leading a police and CIA team on an identification drive of migrant labourers and tenants in the village and nearby areas, when he came across the well and spotted the body around 2pm.
The body was pulled out finally around 4pm. The victim's body had swelled. Brar said that there was a strong possibility that the child might have strayed towards the well, given its proximity from his house, and might have fallen into it. The police suspected no fowl play in the matter, he added.
Brar was leading a police and CIA team on an identification drive of migrant labourers and tenants in the village and nearby areas, when he came across the well and spotted the body around 2pm.
The body was pulled out finally around 4pm. The victim's body had swelled. Brar said that there was a strong possibility that the child might have strayed towards the well, given its proximity from his house, and might have fallen into it. The police suspected no fowl play in the matter, he added.
However, the father and uncle of the deceased, along with village sarpanch Narayan Singh said the body was thrown into the well after Jaskaran was murdered. They said the well had been checked three days after Jaskaran's disappearance, but nothing had been found.
The kidnappers had murdered the boy and had dumped the body in the well around the third day, due to pressure created by the identification drive of the police. They also claimed that the body had started floating in the water on Monday only because it had been dumped just three days ago.