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12-yr-old’s body found in resort near Pune
The body of a 12-year-old boy was found in the water filtration plant of a resort near Pune on Wednesday morning.
The body of a 12-year-old boy was found in the water filtration plant of a resort near Pune on Wednesday morning.
Chirag Patel, a Class 5 student of Jijamata Convent School (JCS), Koparkhairane, had gone for a school picnic to Sentosa Resort at Dehu, a kilometre away from the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.
The police said Chirag went missing on Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday, the staff of the resort found his body in the water filtration plant.
“We are investigating if it was an accident or murder,” Superintendent of Police, Pune (rural) Pratap Digaonkar said. “It is also possible that the child was trying to have a look in (sic) and fell into the plant.”
Chirag’s father, Narayan Patel, has blamed the school and the resort for negligence. “This is not an accident but murder,” said Patel. “I want to know why the body was not found for 24 hours despite it being in the resort and how did my son end up there?’
The school’s Principal, Deborah Levi, said she had no idea about the incident until 7 pm on Tuesday. “I had been regularly calling the teachers but wasn’t informed,” Levi said.
Digaonkar said a case of negligence has been registered against the resort.
The resort management could not be contacted despite several attempts.
Chirag’s relatives also alleged that the school did not inform them about the boy’s disappearance. Levi, however, said Chirag’s parents were informed at around 8 pm.
Levi defended the school. “We have no clue how this happened. We did not hide anything from anyone.”
Chirag’s classmate, Mukesh Patel, was the last to see him. “Chirag, our friend Ashok and I were playing in the swimming pool. We then went for lunch around 1.30 pm,” said Mukesh.
“We did not see Chirag then. We went back to the pool, but he wasn’t there either.”
Mukesh said he informed their class teacher Jasmine Shaikh. Another student, Krishna Gaikwad, said, “At around 8 pm, our teachers told us that he had been found and that we would all leave.”
