The child, Diganth, was playing with his father, B C Adarsh, when the tragedy occurred. Adarsh, who had just dropped his wife Pushpa at her workplace, could do  nothing to save his son’s life.

Adarsh and Diganth were sitting on a bench in front of A hotel at Jalahalli. As the father rose, the bench collapsed suddenly, leading to the child’s fall into the adjoining drain. Diganth sustained severe neck and head injuries. He was declared brought dead at Subbaiah Hospital at Yeshwanthpur.

The family attributed the incident to the BBMP’s ‘gross negligence’ in maintaining the park. “The bench was shaking. Otherwise, how could it crumble under a child’s weight,” asked an angry Sathish, Diganth’s uncle.

In the afternoon, high drama unfolded at Subedar Palya where the family took the body for burial. The police did not register a case despite the family’s request and permitted the burial without autopsy.

However, a doctor, who examined the body, pushed for post-mortem after a regional television channel flashed the news. “We made fervent pleas to officials to permit us to bury the body, but they would not oblige. The careless doctor, a negligent BBMP engineer and the police are to be blamed for the child’s death.”

“If the police needed a post-mortem, why didn’t they do it in the first place? Why did they expose the grief-stricken family to further emotional pain,” asked Nalini Raj, Diganth’s aunt. A case has been registered against the BBMP engineer.