A four-year-old child died after he slipped into a manhole in South-East Delhi’s Jaitpur area on Wednesday night. The body was recovered only by the morning. The rescue operation went for over five hours. The child was with his grandmother on Wednesday night and accidentally fell into the manhole as the area was enveloped under darkness.
According to the police, the incident took place on Wednesday night around 11.30 pm when the child identified as Gurpreet Singh had just reached his residence in H Block area at Jaitpur. He was in an autorickshaw with his grandmother as they had arrived from Punjab late on Wednesday night. While his grandmother was busy paying the fare to the autorickshaw driver, Gurpreet left his grandmother’s hand and excitedly started running towards his residence. “There was no electricity in the area during the time of the incident due to which he slipped into the manhole left open,” said a police official.
The police reached the location and the fire brigade was also informed. The boy could not be traced and JCB trucks were requisitioned on the spot and road around the manhole was dug up. The rescue operation began by midnight and continued till the early hours of morning. The body was discovered around 5.40 am and was later sent for post-mortem. Gurpreet resided in the H Block area along with his grandmother. His mother is a native of Punjab and he was returning to the Capital after a short trip from his maternal town.
A case of negligence against unknown persons has been registered at Jaitpur police station but no arrest has been made so far.