A six-year-old boy’s body was found in a septic tank inside a village panchayat office’s premises in Chengalpattu on Sunday, January 22. Reports said that the boy, Pradeep, a Class 2 student, had gone missing on Sunday evening. According to The New Indian Express, Pradeep had accompanied his father to fill drinking water cans. His father Manikandan (35) is a lorry driver for a private company while his mother does menial jobs. The family lives in Venkatapuram village near Palur.

The New Indian Express reported that Manikandan went to the village panchayat office to collect water and Pradeep had accompanied him. Police said that Pradeep was playing while Manikandan was filling the water cans. After a while, Pradeep went missing and Manikandan, with the help of others, began looking for him. But Pradeep was nowhere to be found. In the office premises, Manikandan found an open septic tank and looked inside to find his son. With the help of others, Manikandan pulled Pradeep out of the tank and rushed him to a hospital nearby where he was declared dead.

Speaking to The New Indian Express, police said that the opening of the septic tank was narrow. Police said they suspect that Pradeep accidentally fell inside the tank and hit his head and must have become unconscious. Pradeep’s body was sent to the Chengalpattu Government Hospital for postmortem.

The village panchayat office is maintained by secretary Renuka and pump operator Gunasekaran. The district Collector of Chengalpattu, AR Rahul Nadh was informed about the incident, and he has ordered the suspension of Renuka and Gunasekaran. The Palur police have booked a case against the two of them but no arrests have been made so far.