In a case of alleged negligence, a four-year-old boy died after he slipped into a manhole in South-East Delhi’s Jaitpur on Wednesday night. The body was traced on Thursday morning following a search operation that lasted for five hours.
According to the police, the victim, Gurpreet Singh, was walking towards his residence with his grandmother when the incident took place. It was quite dark in the area and the manhole was uncovered, said the police.
“Gurpreet and his grandmother had arrived in a cycle-rickshaw. While his grandmother was busy paying the rickshaw-puller, Gurpreet started rushing towards his residence,” said a police officer.
As the stretch was poorly-lit, he slipped into the open manhole. Immediately, the police and the fire department officials were informed. However, when the boy could not be traced excavators were brought to the spot. The road around the manhole was dug up. The rescue operation that started around midnight continued till the early hours of Thursday. The body was found at 5.40 a.m. and brought out. It was subsequently sent for a post-mortem. A case of negligence against unknown persons has been registered at Jaitpur police station but no arrest has been made so far.
