E-Paper
Toddler drowns after falling into open manhole in Sector-84
Investigators said that the incident took place at 5.00pm when the boy called Pradeep Kumar was playing in front of a tea stall run by his father Bhagat Kumar in Sihi Sikanderpur
Gurugram: A two-year-old boy drowned after falling into an open manhole in Sector-84 of the city on Wednesday, police said.
Investigators said that the incident took place at 5.00pm when the boy called Pradeep Kumar was playing in front of a tea stall run by his father Bhagat Kumar in Sihi Sikanderpur.
According to the police, the lid of the manhole near the shop was missing and the child fell into it and drowned. They said, nobody spotted him falling into the manhole and the matter came to light after nearly 15-20 minutes.
The boy’s father started looking for him and raised an alarm after being unable to find him. Later, they checked the manhole with the help of some other residents and found that he had drowned.
Investigators said the boy was rushed to Sector-10A government hospital but was declared dead on arrival. The family belongs to Surkhet, Nepal and had been living in Sector-84 for the last six years.
The boy’s father alleged that his son died due to negligence of the workers responsible for maintaining the manhole.
“Had the lid been in place, my son would not have fallen into it. Action must be taken against those who were responsible for handling the manhole,” he said.
Inspector Satyawan Kumar, station house officer of Sector-37 police station, said that on Thursday the deceased boy’s father submitted a complaint against unidentified persons responsible for maintaining the manhole.
“On the basis of the complaint, we registered an FIR under Sections 283 (danger or obstruction in public) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code,” he said.
The SHO said that notices will be served to authorities of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) to ascertain who was responsible for upkeep of the manhole. “Once we receive a reply, necessary action against responsible employees will be taken,” he said.
Meanwhile, a GMDA official said that the authority will carry out an internal enquiry too on the incident,” he added.
