The body of a 14-year-old boy, who had gone missing on Monday morning, was found floating in a pool of rainwater that had accumulated in a large open ground near his home in outer Delhi’s Kirari on Tuesday, police said.
While the boy’s father and local residents alleged that it was government land where water was allowed to accumulate despite repeated complaints, deputy commissioner of police (Rohini) SD Mishra said the ownership of the property was yet to be ascertained.
DCP Mishra said that there was no indication of foul play in the death and a first information report (FIR) would be registered only if the autopsy report revealed anything suspicious or the willful negligence of any individual or organisation surfaced during police probe.
The boy, Mohammad Imamuddin, lived with his parents in Kirari and was a class nine student at a local government school. His father, Mohammad Wasim, said he first discovered that his son was missing around 11am on Monday.
“My relatives and local residents searched every corner in Kirari. We used loudspeakers to announce his name and that he’s missing. When we couldn’t find him by night, we called the police and filed a missing person’s complaint,” Wasim said.
The search resumed at dawn on Tuesday. “We found my son’s body floating in a marshy swamp near our home. He had drowned,” Wasim said, adding that the ground had turned into a dumping yard for the colony’s garbage and remains mushy throughout the year.
“It gets worse in the rainy season when the rainwater and waste from houses in the neighbourhood accumulates. We have complained to the authorities, but the water is pumped out only when cricket matches are to be organised here,” Wasim said.
DCP Mishra said that according to the police probe there was a “depression” in the low-lying ground where rainwater had been accumulating. A stick test by local residents showed that at the very edge, the water is nearly six feet deep.
First Published: Jul 23, 2019 20:26 IST
