Bodies of missing kids found in Ghaziabad canal, kin claim police laxity

Bodies of two minor siblings — a boy aged six and a girl aged five — were found in the Behta Canal near Jawahar Nagar in Ghaziabad on Sunday morning. Police said the children may have drowned.

Bodies of two minor siblings — a boy aged six and a girl aged five — were found in the Behta Canal near Jawahar Nagar in Ghaziabad Sunday morning, police said, adding the children may have drowned. Parents of the children, Saurav and Laxmi, said they had gone missing on February 18 and had reported it to Loni Border police.

Angry residents of Loni blocked the Delhi-Saharanpur Road (NH-70b). (Getty Images/Picture for representation)

Raju, the father who is a local vendor, said, “I went to the police several times but they could not trace them. Instead, they beat me up for two days ago and made me sit at the police station. There has been complete laxity on the part of police. My children were playing outside and went missing around 4pm. We searched a lot but could not find them,” said.

Angry residents of Loni blocked the Delhi-Saharanpur Road (NH-70b). Police said they are probing the family’s claims. Meanwhile, the bodies were sent for autopsy, the results of which will come by late Sunday night.

Neeraj Kumar, superintendent of police (rural), said, “The man had come to us and also met the SSP, alleging that the police beat him up. The SSP has ordered an inquiry to be conducted by circle officer, Loni. We will take appropriate legal action.”

“The bodies of the children were found with their head down. It indicates that they had somehow drowned. We are waiting for the postmortem reports and proper legal action will be taken once the reports arrive,” Kumar said.

Local MLA Nand Kishor Gurjar, who also arrived at the spot of the protest, offered financial assistance to the family and assured that more assistance will be asked for from the chief minister’s relief fund.