5-year-old dies by drowning in biogas pit in Mira Road

According to the police, the boy, identified as Shreyas Soni, was a resident of Shiv-Shakti Nagar in Penkarpada, Mira Road East

MUMBAI: A five-year-old boy who went missing on Friday morning was found dead inside a pit dug for a biogas project by the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation. The Kashmira police in Mira Road subsequently registered a case against unknown officials of the corporation in connection with the incident.

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According to the police, the boy, identified as Shreyas Soni, was a resident of Shiv-Shakti Nagar in Penkarpada, Mira Road East. His father Monu Soni, 34, runs a paan shop in Dadar.

“On Friday, when Monu Soni was at work, he received a call from his wife Pooja saying Shreyas been missing since he went out to play in the morning,” said a police officer. The mother and other family members began looking for the boy in the locality and found that he had fallen inside a biogas pit filled with rainwater. “Accordingly, Pooja informed her husband, who was on the way back to Mira Road,” the officer added.

The biogas pit was located behind the Jijamata Garden, where Shreyas had gone to play. Fire brigade officials retrieved him from the pit and rushed him to Pandit Bhimsen Joshi General Hospital in Bhayandar West, where he was declared brought dead.

“We have registered a case under section 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code against unknown people. The father has alleged negligence on the part of the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation staffers as they knew the biogas project was closed and the pit was open. Since the pit was filled with water, it was difficult to locate it,” said the police officer.