Teen death: Family accuse factory owners of thrashing their son to death

Six days after a 14-year-old boy died under mysterious circumstances, the teenager's family has refused to claim his body, while Kandivali police have registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) in the matter. The teenager's family has alleged he was brutally thrashed by the owners of the bangle making factory where he worked. The family refused to claim their son's body from the civic-run Shatabdi hospital till the time police does not register a First Information Report (FIR) against the factory owners.

According to the teenager's uncle, the boy was employed at a bangle making unit of a private factory at Sanjay Nagar in Kandivali (W), owned by Pradeep Chauhan and Anand Chauhan. Family said the owners simply called asking them to the boy was rushed to the hospital due to an accident.

"Five days ago, we got a call from my nephew's bosses saying there was an accident and he has been admitted to a hospital. The first time we saw my nephew, he had several injury marks on his body and they looked like bruises," said the boy's uncle, Manoj. He added, that owing to bad financial situation of the entire family, Arun had come to the city to earn a livelihood.

Manoj said his nephew had committed a mistake which caused a loss of over seven kilograms of bangles, following which he was badly assaulted by his bosses. "We suspect the owners must have thrashed him badly which caused his death. The hospital authorities told us that the postmortem report shall be made available only after six months. Till that time we will not know the true cause of his death," said Manoj. He added, "Unless the police takes serious cognisance of this matter and register an FIR against the owner, we shall not claim the body from the hospital morgue."

Nitin Pondkule, senior police inspector of Kandivali police station said, they have registered an ADR in the matter and are investigating the case. Pondkule said, “The matter is being investigated from all angles and all facts are being examined. Appropriate action will be taken in due course of time. At present, we have registered an ADR and all the concerned people are being called for questioning and their statements are being recorded."