On Wednesday evening, 7-year-old Rakesh had gone to attend the nature’s call near the site where both is parents were employed as construction workers. Like he had done many times before, Rakesh sat above an open storm water drain (rajakaluve), with a plastic mug in hand.

Nearly three hours later, his lifeless body was recovered from the drain.

A resident of Nagadevanahalli in Ullal near Kengeri, the class 1 student was the son of Bheemappa and Nagamma, natives of Kalaburagi.

According to reports, Rakesh’s parents realized their son was ‘missing’ a little after 5pm. Upon searching, they found his slipper and plastic mug near the storm water drain and alerted the police. The fire rescue personnel who reached the spot launched a search for the boy and reportedly recovered the body after three hours.

“We understand the child was defecating near drain and fell in. The drain was not very deep, but he couldn't stand up because of the sewage. In most cases, rescue personnel enter the water to search for the body. In this drain, the sewage was so dense earthmovers were called in for the operation. In most cases, the body moves at least a few hundred metres; in this case, he was found where he had fallen. It took some time to move the rubbish and fish the body out,” a fire department officer told TOI.

A report in The New Indian Express quotes a senior officer as saying that Rakesh might have lost his balance and fallen into the drain. 

Rakesh’s body was later taken to RR Hospital for post mortem, the report says. 

After visiting the family at the hospital, Mayor G Padmavathi has reportedly announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the family.