Boy drowns in water-filled pit in Mumbai: Cops arrest contractor

Mumbai: A contractor has been arrested by Kurar Police in connection with the case where an eight-year-old boy had fallen into a water-accumulated pit at an under-construction building site in Malad East last week and died. D Patel, the contractor, was produced before a Magistrate court. Police are yet to arrest the site engineer, Kishan, who has been named in the FIR.The incident had occurred on March 19, at a building being developed by Mauli Sai developers near Gaondevi temple. The child, Divyansh Maurya, had ventured into the construction site at 8.27pm to retrieve his ball when he fell into the pit and drowned.Footage from CCTVs at the site, later retrieved by the police, had captured the entire sequence of events leading to the child's drowning. The footage shows Divyansh enter the site through a gap in the barricades put up around the property. The child spots his ball in a pit full of water on the site. He then finds a wooden plank and tries to steer the ball towards him with it. In the process, he loses balance and falls into the pit.Police said the pit contained drainage water coming from an SRA project upstream. According to the FIR, the accused did not put up any fencing or security net around the pit despite knowing that someone could lose their life.Divyansh was a class 3 student of a civic-run school. He lived with his parents and younger sister in a chawl near Gaondevi temple. His father ran a grocery store. On March 19, Divyansh was playing outside his house when his parents last saw him around 7pm.Divyansh's disappearance caused concern among his family who lodged a missing complaint with the Kurar police. As the child was a minor, police converted the case into a kidnapping offence, as per Supreme Court guidelines. Several search parties, including police teams and the boy's neighbours, looked for him throughout the night.Around 3am, his father, Rajesh Maurya, decided to inspect the construction site. While checking with his mobile torch, he was horrified to spot a child's legs in the pit. He then climbed into the pit and scooped up his son. Divyansh was not making any movement. Rajesh called his brother and neighbours who rushed Divyansh to a private hospital nearby, but he was pronounced dead. Kurar Police slapped charges of negligence under Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita against Patel, site engineer Kishan and other concerned persons.