Imran fell into an open manhole on November 10, NDTV reported.
Rescue teams spent nearly twenty-four hours searching for the four-year-old boy in outer Delhi’s Baprola and Nangli Vihar areas. The operation ended on Wednesday when workers found the child’s dismembered body at a water treatment plant in Nilothi, according to police. Authorities suspect large rotating machines at the sewage treatment plant tore the body apart.
The boy had accompanied his mother and brother to Dass Garden Park on Tuesday afternoon.
“The child went towards the drain to relieve himself when he fell into a manhole,” said Vikram Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police for Outer Delhi.
Local police, fire brigade personnel, local divers, and the National Disaster Response Force searched the sewer and adjoining drain network for seven hours on Tuesday. Poor visibility and difficult conditions forced teams to suspend the operation at 10 pm before resuming on Wednesday morning.
Authorities roped in Border Security Force personnel to aid the expanded search. Teams traced the drainage route six kilometers away to the Nilothi water treatment plant, where they recovered the remains around 4 pm on Wednesday.
Police sent the body parts to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital for preservation and a post-mortem examination. DNA profiling will be conducted to confirm the child’s identity.
A Delhi Government official said that the Delhi Jal Board received telephonic information about the incident on Tuesday evening. Officials inspected the site and said that an interceptor sewer line passes beneath the Najafgarh drain wall under the jurisdiction of the Irrigation and Flood Control Department.
The statement claimed that criminal elements damaged the cover of the sewer manhole in a restricted area where police prohibited public entry.
“We gathered here because the family was going through an extremely hard time,” a local resident said, NDTV reported.
“It is painful that a child lost his life after falling into a manhole,” another resident said, NDTV reported. “Open manholes invite accidents. Authorities must ensure that these are properly covered, as such incidents can happen to anyone.”
Police registered a case under section 106(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which covers causing death by negligence, against unidentified persons. Investigators are reviewing how the original iron manhole cover was removed and replaced with cardboard on an isolated stretch of forest land.
“Further investigation is underway,” a senior police officer said.
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