Chennai: The Pallikaranai police on Monday arrested a 26-year-old man on suspicion of failing to assist a school girl who drowned to death in a stone quarry pond on Saturday.
The victim, S. Ananthi( 14) a resident of Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board in Semmenchery and a class eighth student died in Ottiyapakkam stone quarry pond after drowning.
According to police, Arun (26) a painter in the Semmenchery allegedly took some of the girls from the locality to teach them swimming at a pond in the stone quarry in Ottiyapakkam. Reports suggest that they went for a swim on Saturday evening. The pond had 150 ft deep water. As Ananthi ventured deep in the pond, she drowned. Seeing her drown, out of fear, other girls and Arun allegedly fled the spot and did not inform anyone. Subsequently, Ananthi’s father Shiva, an auto driver, registered a missing complaint with the police.
Meanwhile, on Sunday morning, the Pallikaranai police received a call about the body of a girl floating in a pond. The fire rescue teams went and pulled the body out and identified it to be that of Ananthi. The information was conveyed to the family members and they were called in for identification. Her body was sent to the Chromepet government hospital for post mortem.
However, based on the complaint by Shiva, the Pallikaranai police on Monday arrested Arun who took the girl to swim in the pond and allegedly failing to assist her. Police said Arun also confessed to have fled the spot out of fear when she was drowning. A case has been registered under section 304( a) and he was remanded to judicial custody.
