New Delhi: A nearly 24-hour rescue operation to find a four-year-old boy who fell into an open sewer in the Baprola area here ended tragically on Wednesday when the team found the child's dismembered body at a water treatment plant in Nilothi, police said. They said the victim's DNA profiling will be conducted to identify the body.
Police suspect the body was dismembered by the large rotating machines that filter and treat wastewater at the sewage treatment plant. The child fell into the manhole near Kheri Baba Pul in Nangli Vihar Extension on Tuesday afternoon, triggering an extensive search operation involving the Delhi Police, fire brigade personnel, local divers and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
The rescue teams followed the sewer and drain route and eventually reached the Water Treatment Plant in Nilothi, Nihal Vihar, where the child's body was found in multiple parts, police said. Authorities said the team retrieved the body and sent it to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital for preservation and post-mortem.
"Further investigation is underway," a senior police officer said, adding that an FIR under section 106(1) (causing death by negligence) has been registered against unidentified persons.
The atmosphere remained tense on Tuesday as rescue personnel worked for hours, with locals standing alongside the family, offering support and hoping against hope that the child would be brought out alive. The heartbreaking discovery brought an end to the anxious wait of the family members, who had remained at the site throughout the rescue operation that continued over 24 hours, desperately hoping for their child to be found alive.
"We gathered here because the family was going through an extremely hard time. We wanted them to know that they were not alone. Everyone was praying that the child would be found safe," a local resident said.
Another resident described the incident as tragic and raised concerns over open manholes and uncovered sewers in residential areas. "It is painful that a child lost his life after falling into a manhole. Open manholes invite accidents. Authorities must ensure that these are properly covered, as such incidents can happen to anyone," the resident said.
According to police, officials received information about the incident at the Ranhola police station in outer Delhi around 3:21 pm on November 10. The child had accompanied his mother to Dass Garden Park. While moving towards the drain to relieve himself, he accidentally fell into a manhole, police said.
Rescue teams searched the sewer and adjoining drain for nearly seven hours on Tuesday but could not locate him. Poor visibility and difficult conditions at the site hampered the operation on Tuesday night. The search was suspended for the night and resumed on Wednesday.
Police said the operation was particularly challenging as the sewer was connected to the drain, making it difficult for the rescue personnel to trace the child's movement through the network. Police said the operation ultimately led to the recovery of the child's body.
A Delhi Government official said in a statement that intimation of the unfortunate incident of a child falling into a manhole in the Nangli Vihar area was received. "It is submitted that telephonic information regarding an unfortunate incident was received on Tuesday at 5:22 pm from the concerned EE (maintenance), Delhi Jal Board of the area, informing that a small child had fallen into a manhole of a sewer line in the Nangli Vihar area," the statement said.
Immediately upon receiving the information, the concerned staff rushed to the spot and found that police officials, along with the NDRF team, had already initiated rescue operations.
DJB officials inspected the site and observed that the interceptor sewer line passes beneath the closed boundary wall of the Najafgarh drain, which falls under the jurisdiction of Irrigation and Flood Control Department (I&FCD), the official said.
He said miscreants and unsocial elements reportedly damaged the cover of the sewer manhole.
"In view of some other unlawful incident in the same area the entry into this stretch had already been declared prohibited by the police authorities. Entry into the restricted area is not permitted without prior authorisation from police," the statement said.
The detailed report is being submitted separately, officials said.