3-year-old ‘drowns’ in drain, cops can’t find body, file kidnap case
SRINIWASPURI Fiveyearold boy told neighbours the girl fell into the drain while playing
NEW DELHI: A three-year-old girl allegedly drowned in an open drain in southeast Delhi’s Sriniwaspuri on Thursday. After rescue workers couldn’t find the body, police filed a kidnapping case. The incident happened when Kiran was playing with friends near the drain outside her house in Gandhi Camp at 11.30am.
A five-year-old boy alerted the neighbours when she fell into the drain, locals told police.
On the boy’s statement, a rescue mission was initiated by police and fire personnel, which went on for more than six hours. The operation was finally called off around 7pm when the girl’s body was not found, said police.
The police later said that due to the absence of the body and only a five-year-old boy as witness of the ‘drowning’, they will investigate case from a different angle.
“We registered a case under section 363 (kidnapping) of IPC. As the only alleged witness of the case is a five-year-old boy and we couldn’t find the body, we are exploring if the girl drowned in the drain at all. Someone could have abducted her. Her mother is clueless at this point of time,” said a senior police officer.
Kiran had come with her mother from Rajasthan to stay at her maternal grandparents’ house in Sriniwaspuri.
Locals told HT that Kiran’s father is a labourer in Bhilwara, Rajasthan and the family is poor. The mother had been staying at her parents’ house with Kiran since Bhai Dooj.
“Kiran loves to be with her grandparents. They were soon to return to Rajasthan, where her father works,” said Kumar.
Locals said that the drain, which is nine-foot deep, has almost become a death trap for the last 10 years.
Virender Gautam, a local, said there had been many incidents of children falling into the drain.
“A 10-year-old boy was rescued two months ago. He had accidentally fallen in the drain while returning home from school. A similar incident took place a couple of years ago. Even stray animals have gotten stuck in this drain,” he said.