Mumbai: Body of missing boy found in water tank

The boy who went missing

The search for a missing 3-year-old boy conducted between Bhiwandi to Ambarnath for 48 hours came to an end with a canine from the Thane rural police dog squad tracing his body to the water tank of the building where he lived.

According to the police, Vidhansh Gopal Chavan was a resident of a municipal building behind Kotergate mosque in Bhiwandi. Vidhansh ‘s father is a sanitation worker with Bhiwandi Nizampur City Municipal Corporation. His mother Mamta who approached the Bhiwandi city police on January 26 said her son left home and didn't return. "They searched for him for two hours and then approached the police. She claimed that the boy went out to play and get a chocolate from a shop. The boy being a minor, we registered a kidnapping case and started searching for the boy," said a police officer.

Belle with her hander

Navnath Dhavale, deputy commissioner of police, Bhiwandi, formed more than five teams of detection officers from different police stations in Bhiwandi. "The officers activated their local contacts and scanned almost all the CCTV footage of the vicinity and outskirts. They found footage of a minor boy with two men and a woman walking at Kalyan railway station. We showed it to the parents and they said it seemed to be their child. We followed the CCTV footage to trace a couple in Ambarnath. Later it was established that it was not their son," said a police officer from Bhiwandi.

Mahendra Kumbhar, senior police inspector, Bhiwandi police station, said, "We checked all the CCTV footage and established that the boy didn't leave the building. So we decided to get the dog squad. ‘Belle' started the search with her handler Samir Dike. After half an hour Belle took us towards the water tank and we found the body in it. Belle was a great help in finding the body."

The water tank is located below the staircase of the building and there is a very small space to get in. "But a child could go in. The water tank was half open. That's why the child could get in. The body had floated to the top as it was almost 48 hours since he drowned. It was sent to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Bhiwandi," said a police officer. Kumbar added that they have registered an accidental death report and it's almost clear that the boy drowned.

Khushal Gohil, a vice-president of the NCP party from Bhiwandi, said that the boy lived in the Kumbharwada area and was visiting his grandparents' house which is in the municipal building. "The family has received his body and is conducting his last rites. There was total negligence in the water tank being left open which caused the boy's death. The police will look into the matter."