BMC launches probe into drowning of two kids in water tank in Wadala

Speaking to The Indian Express, Deputy Municipal Commissioner (DMC) (Gardens) Kishore Gandhi said the civic body will also be conducting its own administrative inquiry which will be conducted independently, and the final report slated to be prepared by next week.

While the bodies of the minors were recovered on Monday morning, the brothers — Ankush, 5, and Arjun Wagre, 4 — went missing from their home in the Subhash Nagar area on Sunday. The police said the parents reported the matter at Matunga police station at around 1.30 pm on Sunday. After locals and parents suspected that the children could possibly have gone near the water tank, the police started searching the tank, wherein the bodies of the minors were recovered at 8 am on Monday.

According to police officials, the lids on the water tank were missing and the open area had been covered with a thin layer of plastic instead.

Gandhi said, “We have launched our inquiry, and we are examining what led to the incident, how it happened and how it could have been avoided. Among other things, we will also examine since when the lid of the water tank has been missing. Once we submit our findings in the report, we will decide the next course of action.”

Meanwhile, BMC officials said this was managed by a private contractor, against whom they will be filing an FIR soon. “This is a matter of negligence and since the contractor did not take adequate safety measures to cover the lid, we will be filing an FIR against the contractor,” added another official.

For the record, the city is home to 1,109 open spaces, including gardens, playgrounds and recreational grounds, with most of them being managed by third-party contractors.

Amid the ongoing probe, BMC officials added that vagrants from the neighbouring slums would regularly cross over from underneath the fencing to enter the gardens, where they would steal the water from the tank, prompting the civic body to often submit written complaints against them with the police.

An official said, “There is a slum of unauthorised structures close to the garden, near the Wadala Bridge situated nearby. In the past, we have received complaints of slum dwellers entering the garden premises and engaging in anti-social activities. They would also steal water from the tank. In the past, we had already written letters against the vagrants to the police with the last letter written in March 2023. We suspect that the lid had been stolen by these anti-social elements.”

With the FIR yet to be registered, several locals and leaders voiced their concern over the incident. Taking to X, Ravi Raja, former Congress corporator and Leader of Opposition in BMC wrote, “The water tank was covered with a simple plastic which led to the unfortunate incident. This is a case of negligence and I condemn it. Parks under the BMC jurisdiction is run by private contractors, so an FIR should be lodged against the contractors involved in this incident.”

Case likely for causing death due to negligence

The Mumbai police, meanwhile, initiated the process of registering a case under Section 304 (A) (causing death due to negligence) against the authorities concerned. The Matunga police had earlier registered a case of kidnapping after the two brothers Ankush (5) and Arjun Wagre (4) went missing from their Subhash Nagar home on Sunday. Subsequently, after the bodies were recovered, the RAK Marg police had registered an accidental death report on Monday.

Senior police inspector Deepak Chavan said, “We registered a case of kidnapping on Sunday. Now we will be adding Section 304 (A) (causing death due to negligence) of the Indian Penal Code in the same FIR and proceed with the investigation.”

The police said they will try to identify whether the BMC officials are responsible or the third party who were awarded the contract to maintain the garden are responsible for the incident.