Delhi: Two girls drown in Samaypur Badli pond

Police said that the two girls reportedly went to the temple to attend an annual fair, and were reported missing from the spot.

Two girls aged 12 and 10 years, drowned in a pond located near a local temple in the Bhagwanpur Colony of outer Delhi’s Samaypur Badli area on Wednesday night.

Local residents told the police that the nine-foot deep pond is considered sacred by them, since it was their belief that if they throw a coin in the water while wishing something, the wish would come true. (Picture for representational purposes only)

Police said that the two girls reportedly went to the temple to attend an annual fair, and were reported missing from the spot.

An officer from the Samaypur Badli police station said local residents on Wednesday around 8pm reported that a 12-year-old girl has drowned in the pond. He added that when a police team was rushing to the spot, people reporter another girl missing from the same spot.

Local residents told the police that the nine-foot deep pond is considered sacred by them, since it was their belief that if they throw a coin in the water while wishing something, the wish would come true.

One of the residents told the police that the 12-year-old jumped into the pond to retrieve coins being thrown by the devotees who had gathered on Wednesday at the temple. However, when she did not surface after diving in, they called the police

Parents of both the girls are daily wage labourers, police said.

The other girl, however, had gone to the temple with her friends and it was not immediately clear if she slipped inside the pond or jumped in by herself. The police found her slippers near the pond.

The officer quoted above said divers were roped in and the body of the 12-year-old was retrieved on Wednesday night. The rescue operations continued and the body of the other girl was taken out on Thursday morning.

The deputy commissioner of police (outer north) Rajiv Ranjan Singh was not available for a comment.