Body of child washed away in open drain found, Bangalore police book civic body officials

“We have taken up a case against the BBMP and an investigation will reveal the identities of the people responsible for the tragic incident. Maintaining the storm water drainage system in the city is the duty of the BBMP. Failure to do their duty has resulted in the death of an innocent girl,” a police officer said.

The child who was on a visit to Bangalore with her parents from Tamil Nadu was out with an aunt when she was washed away into an uncovered drain at Bilkehalli near the Bannerghatta Road in south Bangalore.

A resident of Virudachalam village in Kadalur district of Tamil Nadu, Geethalakshmi was visiting her aunt Lakshmi’s house in Bilekahalli along with her parents on the occasion of Dasara. The JP Nagar police in south Bangalore initially registered a missing person case after they were informed about the child being washed away in the rain water on Monday evening.

Lakshmi’s aunt who was with her raised an alarm but the child was dragged away by the surging flow of rain water. Police and BBMP began searching for the girl on Monday night along a 2 km stretch of the storm water drain.

On Tuesday more than 200 men from the BBMP, the Fire and Emergency Services, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Civil Defense unit were pressed into the search operation. On Wednesday afternoon, a team of the NDRF managed to find the body in the Madiwala lake.

The body was later handed over to the parents, Shankar and Kasturi after a post mortem. BBMP mayor N Shanthakumari who visited the accident spot during the search for the child’s body also stated that stringent action would be initiated against officials found responsible for the incident.