Delhi: Body of baby that fell into drain found near Yamuna, three km away

DCP (North) Nupur Prasad said, “The boy was found around 3 km from where he fell, on Sunday. The drain connects to the Yamuna, and the body was found towards the river.”

An inconsolable Pooja sat in her parents’ home in Wazirabad, and asked for her son: “He must be hungry, I have to feed my laddoo… he must be screaming ‘mumma-mumma’.” The family is yet to break the news to her.

READ | Walking on pipe, woman slips, her baby falls in drain

Birju was pulling a double shift at the under-construction Signature Bridge on Friday night when the incident took place. A daily wage worker, he is also well-known in the locality for being a skilled diver (gotak). “Every time a mishap happens in the Yamuna, I am one of the men who dives in… But when it came to my child, I couldn’t do anything,” he said.

Krishna slipped from his mother’s arms and fell into the drain. (Express photo by Gajendra Yadav)

Across the house, a broken boundary wall leads to the pipeline. Residents use this daily to reach the main road and get to Nehru Vihar and Gopalpur, where they work as house helps and labourers. After Krishna’s death, many are wary of using it. “There is a road, but it has two-way traffic and no pavements. It’s risky, so we take the pipeline,” said Sudesh (40), a resident.

Krishna’s grandfather Ram Shankar (50) said, “We have been using this pipeline for decades. It’s a short cut; every morning, school children take it to get to the main road. The wall was repaired earlier this year to stop people from crossing the pipe. Within days, it was broken… as trucks would take a turn and ended up hitting the wall.”

But Rahul (24), another resident, claimed, “The wall was broken by locals… it was meant to stop us from taking this route, but we are used to it.”

The incident took place at 11 pm. Pooja and her mother crossing the pipeline after shopping for Karva Chauth. Her foot slipped and Krishna fell into the drain. “She also slipped and hurt her back. She wanted to jump in to save Krishna, but I stopped her. The current was too strong and it was dark,” said her mother.

Shankar called PCR minutes later. “Till 3 am, five divers looked for the child. The next two days, local boys along with Birju and Shankar dove into the drain,” said Beena (45), a neighbour.

After 11 am on Sunday, Shankar received a call from a policeman that a baby was found near a drain: “We told him Krishna was wearing a black shirt, pink pyjamas, and a diaper. We went to look and found it was my grandson. His toes had been chewed up. We were told a dog dragged his body near the drain.”

The DJB did not respond to calls seeking a comment.