Club supervisor,swimming instructor held

In their statement,Shaikh and D’costa said they did not see the victim,Aryan Parab,slip into the deep end of the pool,as it was crowded with children. They said when they saw him drowning,they immediately pulled him out and tried to revive him,said the police. The two then took the boy to Siddharth Hospital in Goregaon (West),where he was declared dead.

The victim was a resident of Motilal Nagar in Goregaon (West),where he lived with his parents,Sneha (46),a housewife and Sukumar (52),an employee at Mazgaon docks. Aryan was a Class III student and was learning swimming for the past month at Ozone Swimming Pool and Activity Centre,a sister concern of Prabodhan,a non-profit charitable organisation located in Siddhartha Nagar area,Goregaon (West). The police said Aryan had gone to the club for his regular swimming lessons on Sunday between 6 and 7 pm,when the incident occurred.

Senior inspector Arun Jadhav said usually there are several coaches and lifeguards present around the pool and are liable to take care of the children,especially those who are beginners. “As the accused did not do their duty of protecting the children,which led to the boy’s death,we have registered a case against them,” said Jadhav.

Jadhav added that the two accused were produced before a metropolitan magistrate court on Monday and remanded in judicial custody till June 6. “We are now probing the role of the management and whether there were more lifeguards or supervisors present near the pool at the time of the incident,” said Jadhav.

He said initial investigations have revealed that Aryan was not wearing a float,which should have been provided to him as he was a beginner. Eyewitnesses and Aryan’s relatives have reportedly told the police that the pool was overcrowded with students owing to which the instructor could not provide individual attention. “The instructor did not even know that Aryan was drowning until it was too late,” said a relative .

Jadhav said the police had obtained footage recorded by the closed circuit television cameras around the swimming pool and would examine it. Any footage pointing to negligence on the part of Sheikh and D’costa would be added as evidence against them,said the police.

The plot of the Ozone club was initially owned by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation,which was later handed over to the private trust around five years ago to operate and maintain the swimming pool.

“The expenditure of running the swimming pool is too high and thus we handed over the facility to a private trust. They have their own lifeguards at the pool and it is their responsibility to ensure that swimmers are safe. We have not initiated any inquiry or action,” said Suhas Karvande,Deputy Municipal Commissioner (swimming pools).