Boy dies after falling in drain

 An eight-year-old boy died after falling in a drain in west Delhi’s Shakurpur on Monday. The body of Mohammad Anas was fished out after a search of over 3 hours. It had gone down streams after the local police tried to search using bamboo sticks.

Anas was with his 18-year-old maternal uncle Mohsin when the incident occurred at 8.30 pm. The Class 3 student was returning home after playing at a park in Shakurpur Block-WZ.

“We were on the Britannia Chowk-Rani Bagh Road when Anas fell in the drain. I too jumped in the drain to save him,” Mohsin said in his statement to the police. Mohsin, however, barely managed to keep his head over the sewage.

Soon, locals gathered in the area. Anas had apparently drowned by then, while his uncle kept shouting for help.

An eyewitness, Kaushal Kumar Verma, volunteered to go in the drain by using a rope for his safety. “The rope was tied around my waist. I went in the drain and managed to save Mohsin, but I could not locate Anas,” Verma told DH.

The police were also informed on which a team of local police reached there along with staff of the fire department. Verma charged that he was slapped by the policemen and was told to leave the spot.

“The police personnel said that they did not need my help. But they were not willing to go in the drain,” Verma said. He claimed that the policemen were against getting their uniforms dirty. 
 
“Apni wardi kaun ganda karega,” Verma quoted a police officer as saying.

Locals claimed that the police and fire department staff used bamboo sticks to look for Anas’s body. They, however, failed despite a rescue operation which lasted for over 3 hours. At last, the help of a municipal corporation contract worker was sought by the locals.

“A man went in the drain and located the body on the other end at 11.30 pm,” said another local, Mohammad Dinkash. 

Anas’s body was handed over to the family after post-mortem at Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital on Tuesday. After initial probe, a case under Section 304-A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code has been filed with Rani Bagh police station.
Anas is survived by his parents and 2 sisters.

The family hails from Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district.