NEW DELHI, July 23: Massive search operations for a 14-year-old boy, believed to have been swept into a nullah on Pusa Road during torrential rains on Wednesday, were on till this evening. The combing operations, launched by the police, firemen and the municipal corporation, will resume soon.The iron grating of the nullah had apparently broken the day before.According to residents gathered there, the incident occurred around 4:30 pm when the victim , Mahesh was playing there with a friend.According to Rajesh Bhola, a resident: ``There was four feet of water when I suddenly saw them being swept to the nullah. I ran and managed to drag one of them out. But the other one could not be saved.''They informed the police and within 15 minutes, the police and firemen had reached the spot. He could not provide any clue to the identity of the boy that he claimed to have saved.Mahesh is a resident of 100 Quarters in Regarpura in Karol Bagh. He is a class VI student in Multan DAV school. His father - Raj Kumar- is employed in the Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB). Residents say that since Mahesh's parents were divorced, initially everyone had believed that the boy had gone to visit his mother. Said Raj Kumar: ``We were at home when we heard that a boy had been swept into the nullah. We just came to check since Mahesh was not at home. I thought that he had gone to visit his mother, but when we checked with her, she said the boy was not with her. Later when we showed his picture to a few shopkeepers in the area, they claimed that they had indeed seen him being swept into the nullah. Some of the local boys have also gone into the nullah to look for him. But we have not found anything.''Denying that the negligence of the municipal corporation had led to the mishap, K D Akolia, Deputy Commissioner, Karol Bagh said: ``The grating broke after a motorcyclist crashed into it on Wednesday.''Akolia added that search operations had begun within an hour of the incident coming to light. ``I went there in the evening and my men kept searching till 11:30 pm. The next morning, they were here at 8:30 am. We have been searching up to the Rohtak Road section of the nullah,'' he said.
