Minors’ drowning near Mithi: Retaining wall contractor arrested for negligence

Two days after three minors drowned in a trench dug alongside the Mithi river in Kurla’s Kapadia Nagar, the police arrested the civic contractor responsible for building a retaining wall along the water body on Thursday for negligence.

Two days after three minors drowned in a trench dug alongside the Mithi river in Kurla’s Kapadia Nagar, the police arrested the civic contractor responsible for building a retaining wall along the water body on Thursday for negligence.

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The Kurla police arrested Sunil Upadhyay, 40, the contractor who was to build a boundary wall beside the river.

Hanif Patel, assistant inspector of Kurla police said, “We had booked the contractor and have now arrested him for negligence. Further arrests would take place during the course of investigation if we find anybody’s involvement in the incident.”

Upadhyay was produced in a local court and remanded in police custody till Friday.

The action followed the drowning deaths of brothers Abdul Ajeez, 10, Abdul Raheem, 8, and Abdul Kareem, 8, on Tuesday.

The mood in Mehabub Alam chawl, where the trio resided, was sombre and the parents of the deceased squarely blamed the civic body.

Fareeda Chaudry, the mother of the victims, said: “My children knew that swimming in the river was dangerous. However, they went into one of the trenches thinking that it was not deep. But they were dug very deep and were not barricaded. The police should prosecute all those responsible for the incident.”