A 16-year-old boy died after falling into a pit at a monorail construction site on Saturday near the Wadala Truck Terminal area. The Wadala TT police first registered an accidental death report (ADR) and then filed a case of negligence against unknown persons for negligence under the IPC.
According to officials from the Wadala TT police, they received a call around 3.30 pm on Saturday about a boy having drowned in a crater like pit; they immediately reached the spot. “The body had been removed by two persons who were absent from the spot as they wanted to avoid dealing with the police. The boy had drowned near the Wadala Regional Transport Office (RTO) close to a construction site of the ongoing monorail project. Inquiries led to the boy being identified as Jagannath Naik. He lives in a nearby slum with his family. He was pronounced dead by doctors at the Sion Hospital,” said an officer from the Wadala TT police.
Interestingly, the Wadala TT police had to requisition a police jeep from the Antop Hill police as their own vehicle had broken down. The police, however, clarified that the delay did not make any difference as the boy had already died. Further investigations revealed that the boy was playing cricket with a few friends when the incident took place. His friends, however, reportedly fled the spot after he drowned. Preliminarily, the police has ruled out foul play in the incident and said that a case under Section 304 A (causing death due to criminal negligence) under the IPC was later registered against an unknown person.
“We will inquire with the MMRDA office on Monday about the identity of the contractor and then place him under arrest. There was no construction at the pit for the past several months and the contractor should have secured the hole with barricades,” the officer added.