Surat police issued notices and are on the hunt for two officials of Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) - a junior engineer and a supervisor in connection to the death of a 2-year-old boy in the open manhole in the Variyav area in Surat. The two officials have been identified as junior engineer Rakesh Patel and Supervisor Chetan Rana. A police team had reached their homes and job places and found them missing. Amroli police inspector J B Vanar said, “On questioning the family members of both the officials inquiring about their whereabouts, they failed to give satisfactory answers, following which, we have given notice to them mentioning them if they come across any information regarding Patel and Rana or both officials return homes, they should first contact Amroli police.” Amroli police inspector J B Vanar said, “We have identified two officials, Junior engineer Rakesh patel and Supervisor Chetan Rana, and they were found missing from their job place and also from their residence. If names of other officials crop up during investigations, we will take action against them.” Acting on the instruction from Municipal Commissioner Shalini Agrawal, Rander Zonal Chief Dharmesh Mistry issued notices to the four officials of his zone — executive engineer Tejas Patel, Junior engineer Rakesh Patel, Deputy engineer Nitin Chaudhary, and supervisor Chetan Rana — a few days ago about who was responsible for open manholes, who looked after maintenance work, etc. Based on their reply, the SMC authorities had primarily assigned the entire responsibility to Rander zone Junior Engineer Rakesh Patel and Supervisor Chetan Rana, says sources in SMC. Apart from this, Amroli police had also issued a notice to Rander zone chief Dharmesh Mistry to get details about who was responsible for letting the manhole lid open and the names of the officials associated with operation and maintenance work. Acting on the reply from the Rander zone, Amroli police carried out search operations at the residence and workplace of both these officials and found them missing. Sources said that both officials are also on leave from their jobs. The victim’s father, Sharadkumar Vegad (32), a resident of Variav and a mason by profession, had lodged a complaint with Amroli police station on Friday against the SMC officials of Rander zone for negligence on the part of their duties. Amroli police had registered an offence under the BNS Act of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. On February 5, a 2-year-old boy accidentally fell into the open manhole in the Variyav T point area in Surat. The dead body was discovered over one kilometre away in the sludge at the sewage pumping station at Variyav on February 6.
