The Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Monday suspended an officer citing “dereliction of duty” after a 15-year-old boy was feared to have drowned in an open drain in southeast Delhi’s Jasola.
The teenager fell into the drain on Saturday last week while he was trying to catch a kite. Rescue teams have continued their search for him for the second day, with a video showing his father also entering the drain in a bid to find him.
“Shri Anuj Kumar, JE (M)-IV is hereby placed under suspension for dereliction of duty with immediate effect as a disciplinary proceeding against the said official is contemplated,” according to an official communication from the office of the deputy commissioner, South East, posted by PTI news agency on X.
AAP leader shares video of father’s ‘desperate’ search
Aam Aadmi Party leader Saurabh Bharadwaj shared a video of the teenager’s father, who jumped into the drain to look for his son.
“Father is unable to find his 15 year old son…He has probably slipped into open drain while chasing a kite on 22 Aug. The father desperately jumped into drain to find his son,” Bharadwaj said.
In the video, the father is seen sifting through pieces of garbage and throwing them aside while searching for his son. Despite a nearly 36-hour search, the boy was not found till Sunday, police said.
How did the 15-year-old fall into drain?
The incident took place just before noon on Saturday. According to preliminary inquiry, the 15-year-old was trying to catch a kite when he accidentally slipped and fell into the open drain.
The boy was identified as a Class 8 student at a local government-run school, and lived in the area with his family. Officials from the Delhi Fire Services said two fire tenders along with a rescue team were sent to the spot after the fire control room was informed about the incident at 11.54 am on Saturday.
“Since the flow of water in the drain was very fast, the boy could not be traced,” deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Vineet Kumar said. The National Disaster Response Force also joined the operation.
The search was called off late Saturday and resumed on Sunday, with rescue teams and divers also deployed. “The team tried its best to trace the boy by using all their equipment but the boy could not be found. Due to darkness the operation was called off on Saturday night,” the DCP said. The drain was initially believed to be under the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), but agency officials said that it had been handed over to Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for maintenance, according to an earlier HT report.
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