BHUBANESWAR: The mysterious death of a minor inmate of a child shelter home took a turn on Sunday after Puri Police registered a case against Nilachal Seva Pratisthan. The 16-year-old boy's body was fished out from Luna river in Kanas on Friday, a day after he went missing.
"A case of unnatural death was registered after the boy’s body was fished out. However, based on the complaint of the deceased's mother, a murder case was registered by Kanas police on Sunday evening," Puri SP Kanwar Vishal Singh told The New Indian Express.
Preliminary examination suggested that there was no external injury on the body, the SP said. The police have already intimated the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) about their ongoing investigation into the matter.
"The deceased and another boy - younger to him - had fled the centre together on Tuesday. Though the other boy was rescued the same night, the deceased's body was recovered on Friday. The probe of the case is going as per the guidelines of NCPCR," said a senior police officer.
Additional SP P Pradhan, SDPO and Kanas IIC had visited the spot on Saturday to further investigate the matter. It is being suspected that the boy may have jumped into Luna river to avoid getting caught by the shelter home staff and swam across to a village on the other end, but was trapped in the weeds on the water.
According to district child welfare officer Mahabir Rudranarayan Sahoo, the minor was spotted by Railway Protection Force on May 28 at Mancheswar railway station and handed over to them as he hailed from Brahmagiri block.
Sahoo said he had summoned the boy’s mother and asked her to take custody of her son. "However, the boy’s mother said she was now living in Bhubaneswar and it was difficult to maintain the boy on her part as he used to run away," he added.
The district child welfare committee members will visit the shelter home this week, interrogate its officials and likely also summon the deceased’s mother for questioning. Sources said the woman’s husband has passed away and she has three sons after the death of the deceased.