Chennai: A five-year-old boy died after he drowned in an open pit filled with rain water near his house in Thiruvottiyur on Saturday. Police said the boy drowned in a sewer pit, disputing the claim of the locals that the pit was dug by a government run petroleum company for pipeline work.
The incident happened around 4 pm on Saturday, police said. The deceased boy was identified as B Rakshit. He was playing outside his house in Kanniyappan street while his parents were inside. The boy’s mother, Jamuna went in search of the boy and found his body floating in the rainwater filled pit, according to the police.
Hearing the woman’s cries, neighbours rushed to her aid and secured the boy. Her husband, Bharati Raja was away at work when the incident happened. The child was moved to a private hospital nearby where he was declared brought dead. Thiruvottiyur police secured the body on information and moved it to the Government Stanley Hospital for autopsy.
The parents of the couple are casual labourers and are residents of the same neighbourhood for over two decades.
The deceased was the only son of the couple. Thiruvottiyur police have registered a case under section 174 of CrPC (unnatural death) and are investigating.
Police have ruled out the allegations of the locals that petroleum company staff had dug up the stretch for pipeline work and abandoned it when the project failed to take off.
