A seven-year-old boy died after falling into an open drain in Hyderabad on Saturday, June 5. The incident took place in Bhavana Colony in the city’s Bowenpally. The drain was undergoing some digging works, in order to expand it ahead of the monsoon season. In the absence of a partition wall next to the site, the boy, identified as Anand Sai, is said to have accidentally slipped into the flowing drain and drowned.

While Anand is suspected to have fallen into the drain at around 9.40, his body could only be fished out after three hours, as the water’s heavy flow caused it to be swept away. “We had to divert the water and restrict the water’s flow using sand bags. We retrieved the body at around 12.30 pm,” K Ravi Kumar, Bowenpally inspector. Along with police, firefighters were engaged to retrieve the body. Police have registered a case against the contractor, identified as Ramu, under section 304 part II (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code.

The seven-year-old’s death has angered the residents of Bhavana Colony. They accused the Secunderabad Conatonment Board ward member Pandu Yadav of apathy, as no wall was erected around the drain before the construction works began last month, posing a serious hazard. According to the residents, they informed Yadav of the potential danger of the construction, but neither he nor the contractor allegedly paid any heed.

Last year, in a similar incident, a 12-year-old girl had fallen into an open drain while cycling in Neredmet, Hyderabad. While initially it was suspected that the girl could have been abducted, her body was found a day later in a lake two kilometres away. The girl’s parents later lodged a police complaint against the Minister of Municipal Administration, KT Rama Rao and several other Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation employees in the Neredmet zone, accusing them of negligence that resulted in their daughter’s death.