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A seven-year-old boy who had been missing for two days was found dead inside a parked car in Melapatti village near Peraiyur in Madurai district on Saturday night, November 15.
According to the police, the deceased, identified as R Shanmugavel, is believed to have been accidentally trapped inside the car while playing hide and seek. The boy, a Class 1 student from Nadukottai in Tirumangalam taluk, had come to Melapatti with his parents, Rajasekar and Kavitha, to attend a local festival.
On Thursday evening, November 13, the boy went out to play near his grandmother’s house and did not return. A missing person complaint was subsequently filed at the Peraiyur police station.
Police said that a doctor from Chennai had also come for the festival and had parked his SUV near the boy’s grandmother’s house on Thursday morning. While playing hide and seek, Shanmugavel hid inside the vehicle. The driver later covered the car without realising that the boy was inside.
Preliminary investigation suggests that the child may have suffocated after getting trapped inside the vehicle. Police added that his cries may have gone unheard due to the blaring loudspeakers from the village temple.
The boy was discovered on Saturday night when the doctor, preparing to leave for Chennai, noticed a foul smell upon opening the car. Shanmugavel was found in a decomposed state in the front passenger seat.
The body was sent to Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai for post-mortem and was later handed over to the family on Sunday.
The case has been altered to Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which deals with inquiries into suspicious or unnatural deaths. Further investigation is underway.