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Delhi: Girl falls into tank, dies; parents say landlord tried to hush up death
Parents allege that the landlord stopped them from taking the girl’s body out of the tank and tried to frighten them that the police would arrest them for killing their daughter
An eight-year-old girl died on Saturday after she allegedly fell into an open underground water tank at a building in south-west Delhi’s Kapashera, where she lived with her parents and three siblings in a rented room, police said on Monday.
The girl’s parents have alleged that their landlord tried to cover up the incident by asking them not to inform the police about it as doing so would mean that their daughter’s body will be “cut open” for autopsy. They also alleged that the landlord stopped them from taking the girl’s body out of the tank and tried to frighten them that the police would arrest them for killing their daughter.
He offered them financial help and assistance in cremating the body, they alleged. However, the girl’s mother informed the police after which the landlord fled. The police then fished out the body from the water tank.
Although the family has not alleged any foul play in her death or raised suspicions of a sexual assault, the police are waiting for the autopsy report to ascertain the exact cause of death and if she was sexually assaulted.
According to the police, around 2.30pm Saturday, the eight-year-old girl went to use the toilet in the rear of the house where she lived with her parents and siblings. Her parents, who work as tailors in a factory in Gurugram, panicked when she did not return till 4pm. They launched a search for her in the neighbourhood and around 6pm, they found the girl’s slipper floating in the underground tank.
“We alerted our neighbours and one of them suspected that our daughter may have fallen into the tank that is nearly 11-foot deep. All of us started emptying the tank using buckets and two water motors. When the water level receded after nearly three hours, a neighbour entered the tank and his feet hit our daughter’s body. In the meantime, the landlord arrived and asked everyone to leave; he said the body was not inside the tank,” said the girl’s father.
The father alleged that the landlord switched off all the lights and locked the main gate so that no outsider could enter. The landlord allegedly offered money and told the parents that the body will be taken out only if they agreed not to inform the police. But around 10pm, the girl’s mother secretly informed the police and by the time the police arrived, the landlord had fled, the father alleged.
“No foul play has been reported in the matter. A case has been registered based on the allegations made by the family,” said deputy commissioner of police (south-west) Gaurav Sharma.
Police said the present case is similar to the one reported in August from the Delhi Cantonment, wherein a nine-year-old girl was allegedly raped and killed by a priest and three employees of a crematorium, who then cremated her body allegedly without her parents’ consent or the police being informed.
Her parents had alleged that the accused, who are presently in jail, tried to hush up the matter by telling them that she was electrocuted while fetching water from the water cooler. The parents had also alleged that the four men prevented them from involving the police in that matter and also offered them money to remain silent. A charge-sheet has been filed in that case, which had triggered widespread outrage and condemnation and the family was later visited by several politicians, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
