Two teenagers drown in IIT-M lake
Terrified by their friends going missing in the water, the other boys rushed to inform people in the campus about the incident.
Chennai: Two teenaged boys from Taramani who scaled the IIT-M walls to take a dip in the lake inside the campus drowned on Thursday. The deceased boys were identified as P. Murthy (18) and R. Jerald (17) of Tamil Nadu Housing Board at Kanagam in Taramani.
On the ill-fated day at around 3.30 pm, Jerald and Murthy, who had written his plus 2 exams and awaiting results, along with their friends had reportedly entered the IIT-Madras campus without permission by scaling the compound wall.
“They were playing in a lake near Delhi House where the Prime Minister had recently participated in an event. But Murthy and Jerald were said to have entered the deeper part of the lake and soon went missing,” the police said.
Terrified by their friends going missing in the water, the other boys rushed to inform people in the campus about the incident. Kotturpuram police were alerted and they, in turn, alerted fire and rescue personnel of Guindy fire station. Firemen retrieved Jerald’s body in the evening and the search will continue to find Murthy. Jerald’s body was sent to a government hospital for post-mortem, the police said.
The police revealed that the boys from nearby localities have been entering the campus illegally and would regularly play in the lakes and forest areas. “Dense tree cover precludes security personnel from finding the trespassers,” the police added. The Kotturpuram police have registered a case and are investigating.