Boy, 7, drowns in dirty drain

A seven-year-old boy drowned in a  stormwater drain near Nagadevanahalli lake in Ullal, Kengeri, on Wednesday.

Rakesh, son of Bhimaraya, a daily wage labourer from Dubasipalaya, Byravanagar, near Nagadevanahalli, slipped from the edge of the drain and drowned in dirty sludge below around 4 pm. He had gone there to relieve himself.

When he didn’t come home after long, his parents came searching for him. Seeing his slippers on the edge of the drain proved their worst fears. They called police who rushed along with Fire and Emergency Services Department personnel.

The body was fished out around 8 pm. It has been kept at the Rajarajeshwari Medical College and Hospital, Kengeri, for post-mortem and will be handed over to the family on Thursday. Kengeri police have registered a case of unnatural death. Mayor G Padmavathi visited the hospital and announced ex gratia payment of Rs 1 lakh to the family, besides a slum board house for them.