7-year-old boy falls into pit near SCLR, drowns

A seven-year-old boy accidentally fell into a pit and drowned a few metres away from the Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) late on Friday night. The put had been dug by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as a part of the service road project. The young boy's body was found floating in the pit in the early hours of Saturday.

The boy has been identified as Apshaik Gautam. He used to live with his family in a hut located in the Bharti Nagar area of Kurla, near the SCLR, police said.

Police said that Gautam was playing in a spot where an unmanned pit had been dug up by the civic body. While playing, he allegedly accidentally fell into the pit around 11pm on Friday. Subhash Raut, senior inspector from VB Nagar police station said, "The service road project is underway a few meters away from SCLR. There were no guards at the spot."

After he went missing, locals launched a search for him, but it was only the next morning that they found his body in the pit. After his body was found, they rushed him to Rajawadi Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

The hospital authorities will be handing over the post-mortem report to the police, following which they will decide on the course of action. As of now, the police have registered a case of accidental death.

The police are now in the process of recording statements. They said that if, during the probe, negligence on the part of the contractor is found, then necessary action will be taken against him.