The water sump into which little Nama Shiv Ruchith slipped on Tuesday was just a few feet away from the play equipment at Bachpan play school at Malkajgiri.
In fact, a plastic slide is just four feet away from the sump. There is every possibility that any kid loitering around or moving playfully at the narrow passage, the play area of the school, would slip into the sump through the hole if it’s not covered. “Ruchith slipped into the water sump through the hole as half of it was kept open,” both the boy’s parents and the Malkajgiri police said. The so-called play area of the school being run in a two-floor residential building is simply a passage through which the inmates can move. The sump is about 15-foot deep, filled with water. There are three water sumps in the building, that has nine drainage holes at different points of the passage. “We saw an ayah crying. When we grilled her, she admitted that the boy drowned in the water sump,” the boy’s parents Anil Kumar and Vishala recalled. The school’s staff had initially said that the boy didn’t turn up at the school. “They were trying to hide the boy’s death and their negligence. They should be booked for screening evidence,” the parents demanded. At their instance, the school watchman entered the sump and brought out the boy. His parents rushed him to a private hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead.
On the fateful day, the two-and-half-year-old Ruchith was dressed up as an elephant to participate in a fancy dress competition for Children’s Day.
Meanwhile, the Education Department officials said the school’s ‘opening permission’ had lapsed and it was operating illegally.
“Instructions have been sent to our officials in the Malkajgiri district to verify the documents concerned and seize the school,” Medchal District Education Officer Usha Rani said.
The police on Wednesday arrested three accused – K. Raghavender (40), principal-cum-director of Bachpan School; L. Unni Krishanan (47), counsellor, and Partick (52), watchman of the school.
