Child demands momos, drunk father pushes him into canal in Southeast Delhi

A 6-year-old boy drowned after his father pushed him into a canal for demanding momos, the police said on Sunday. The man told the police that he was drunk when he committed the crime at Jaitpur locality in Southeast Delhi.

Autorickshaw driver Sanjay Alwi, a resident of Bhangar Colony in Madanpur, shoved his son Ayaan into the waterbody in the presence of several people on Saturday night. He tried to escape but was caught by passersby, who also called the cops.

The police said Alwi, 31, had gone to Khadar Puliya with Ayaan. "Alwi said his son was crying for momos and the child's non-stop demand for the steamed dumplings made him lose his cool," said Chinmoy Biswal, deputy commissioner of police (southeast). Rescuers recovered the body from the canal on Sunday afternoon.

Alwi told the police that he lived with his grandmother. He married one Asma in 2004 and they had three children – Nargis (11), Armaan (10) and Ayaan (6).

"Alwi said that he used to have constant fights with his wife over his dependence on alcohol. She left him in 2013 and since then she has been living with her parents in Sonipat," said Biswal.

The police had initially booked Alwi for an attempt to murder. They revised the charges to murder after Ayaan's body was recovered.