Mumbai: Minor Brothers Drown To Death In Open Water Tank At Wadala's Maharshi Karve Garden

Two boys, brothers by relation, ages 4 and 5, allegedly drowned in an open water tank located inside Maharshi Karve Garden in Wadala. Their bodies were recovered by the police on Monday morning, however, a day before their parents had filed a missing report with the Matunga police.

Currently, both RAK Marg police and Matunga police are investigating the matter.

Details of case

The matter first surfaced on Sunday when the boys' parents approached the Matunga police alleging that they had gone missing. The two are identified as Arjun (4) and Ankush Waghari (5), Subhash Nagar residents who fall within the jurisdiction of Matunga police.

According to the boys' parents, on Sunday evening they said they were going to the garden to play and never returned home. Despite looking everywhere, the parents couldn't locate them, hence they decided to approach the police. The Matunga police deployed teams to locate the boys before registering an FIR with charges of kidnapping since the boys were minors.

Missing kids found in water tank

The Matunga police subsequently alerted the RAK Marg police, to help in the search operation. As per the boys' parents, they had gone to the garden hence the search team reached the spot. Despite looking for them everywhere inside, they couldn't locate the boys. On Monday, during the early hours when it was still dark, one of the police personnel noticed a water tank, and with the light of a torch, he saw a body inside.

When the body was pulled out, they saw another one beneath it. The water tank was located at the end of the gardens, in an open area, and as per police officials, was covered simply by a plastic sheet. "They must not have realised there is a manhole-like water tank beneath the plastic sheet and must have stepped on it. Given the depth of the tank, and water in it, their struggle of coming out must have failed, leading to their death," said a police official.

Police are currently investigating the matter to find out if there is any negligence involved in the death, but they suspect no foul play whatsoever. The said garden is owned and managed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the spot where the accident took place (water tank area) has no CCTV cameras installed for the cops to decipher the exact incident happened on Sunday. The bodies of the boys have been sent for postmortem, confirmed the police, adding that further developments will be made based on the PM report.