2 boys drown in canal in north-west Delhi; parents allege foul play

A senior police officer said that the victims were identified as Vaibhav Kumar, 11, and his friend Yash Kumar, 12

Two boys who were reported missing from JJ Colony in Wazirpur on Friday evening were found dead in a canal in Bharat Nagar, north west Delhi on Saturday, police said, adding that the boys’ parents have alleged foul play.

(Representational image)

A senior police officer said that the victims were identified as Vaibhav Kumar, 11, and his friend Yash Kumar, 12, both Class 6 students at a private school in Keshavpuram. Vaibhav’s father is a commercial driver and Yash’s father works at a shop in Chandni Chowk.

According to police, the victims’ parents filed a missing complaint on Friday evening. They told police that the boys were best friends and were last seen playing outside their house at 6pm, said officers. Based on the complaint of Vaibhav’s mother, Shanti Devi, a case of kidnapping was registered at Bharat Nagar police station, police said.

“During search, a local resident told us about two bodies floating in the canal. When we reached the spot, the two bodies were recovered with the help of local divers. The families were then called and they identified the two boys,” a senior police officer said.

According to investigators, the boys’ clothes and footwear were found neatly placed on the canal’s bank, suggesting that they had gone swimming. The water is nearly 15–20 feet deep at that spot, they added. Crime and forensic teams inspected the area and the bodies and found no external injuries. “The parents have not raised suspicion of foul play. The postmortem will confirm the cause of death,” the officer added.

However, while speaking to HT, Yash’s father Jitender Kumar, 36, said he suspected the involvement of a few children in the neighbourhood who fought with Yash and Vaibhav on Friday. Jitender said he wasn’t aware of the reason behind the fight and has shared his suspicions with investigators.

“He went for tuitions around 4pm and was to return by 7pm but he went to Vaibhav’s house around 6pm. After that the boys were not seen. However, we have been informed that our boys had a fight with some children in the afternoon and near the pond that evening. We strongly suspect that those children had a role to play,” Jitender said.

According to him, Yash couldn’t have gone into the water body for a swim as it’s “extremely dirty”.

Jitender said that Yash had a heart disease and was aware that he did not have to swim. “His surgery was due. I was supposed to go meet a doctor on Sunday to discuss about his surgery,” he said.

The bodies were handed over to their family after the autopsy on Saturday.