NEW DELHI: Just a few days before he was about to be sent home, a 14-year-old boy who had run away from home, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in the washroom of a shelter home in Karol Bagh in the wee hours of August 2, police said on Monday.
The boy, a native of Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, was found wandering on the streets and was sent by the Child Welfare Committee to Surakshit Bachpan shelter that is maintained by Railway children, a global children's charity working with street children in India, East Africa and the UK.
Confirming the suicide, ACP (Karol Bagh) said, “An enquiry was set-up by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate and a post-mortem was also ordered.”
According to a source, the suicide was reported to the Prasad Nagar police station soon after another child in the shelter went to the washroom and found the boy hanging.
"The boy was on the run because he had lost something his father had bought for him. He was afraid to go back for fear of a beating by his father. The shelter had located the parents by contacting the village Sarpanch. The boy, who had been in the home for ten days was about to be sent home,” a police officer said.
"The CCTV footage of the shelter home did not show any foul play. However, the autopsy report is still awaited," he added.
The shelter home staff said the boy had appeared normal and used to mingle with the other boys. They, however, refused to speak about the suicide as a probe is underway.