CHENNAI: The body of a six-year-old boy who had gone missing was retrieved from a septic tank inside a village panchayat office premises in Chengalpattu district on Sunday evening. The boy had accompanied his father to fill drinking water cans, said the police.
The boy was identified as M Pradeep, a Class 2 student. His father Manikandan (35) is a lorry driver at a private company and his mother does menial jobs in the locality, said the police. The family resides in Venkatapuram village near Palur.
The Venkatapuram village panchayat office houses an RO unit to provide drinking water to the residents at a minimal rate. Villagers pay Rs 7 for a can of 20 litres, said the police.
On Sunday evening, Manikandan went to the office along with Pradeep to collect water. “While Manikandan was filling the cans, Pradeep was playing around. After a while, Manikandan noticed Pradeep missing. He along with the others looked around for the boy but he was nowhere to be found,” said a senior police officer.
Manikandan then found an open septic tank. On suspicion, he looked inside and found Pradeep, said the police. Manikandan pulled out his son and with the help of others and rushed him to a nearby hospital, where Pradeep was declared dead on arrival.
Police said the opening of the septic tank was narrow. “We suspect Pradeep accidentally fell inside the tank and hit his head and was rendered unconscious,” said the police officer.
On information, Palur police reached the spot and sent the body to the Chengalpattu Government Hospital for postmortem.
The panchayat office premises is maintained by secretary Renuka and the pump operator Gunasekaran. Chengalpattu Collector AR Rahul Nadh who was informed about the incident issued an order to suspend Renuka and Gunasekaran.
Palur police have booked the duo but no arrests were made till Monday evening.
Quoting the public, police sources said, a few stray dogs have fallen inside the septic tank but the panchayat members did not close the tank despite repeated requests.