Greater Noida: 2 minor boys found dead in abandoned boating pool

GREATER NOIDA: The bodies of two 11-year-old boys missing since Saturday evening were found in an abandoned pool in Dadri on Sunday, hours after they had left home to give a bottle of water to the father of one of them who had taken cattle for grazing to a nearby jungle.
Police said while one of the bodies were found floating in the pool, the other had to be fished out. None of them had any clothes on and they were not found in the vicinity. Their slippers, however, were on an edge of the pool. An autopsy report mentioned drowning as cause of death.

Villagers said the boating pool had been made by a prominent private builder as part of a project which it later abandoned. The land was later handed back to Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority.

The villagers said Sonu and Aryan were classmates in the fifth standard. Both of them had left home in Ghodi Bacheda village to give water to Sonu’s father who had taken his cattle for grazing to a nearby forested area.

Sonu’s father Jabar Singh said he had been told the children had left home and waited for them till the evening. “When I came back home, they were nowhere to be found. We searched for them in our village but could not find them. So, we informed police, but kept the search on,” he said.

According to police, Sonu’s body had been spotted by villagers floating in the pool early on Sunday. “We thought the children had drowned in the pool. This was confirmed later by the autopsy report,” said Nishank Sharma, the Dadri circle officer.

The villagers have demanded that the GNIDA build a fence around the 20ft deep pool, pointing out that at least four persons had drowned in it of late. Satender, a local villager, said a private guard and a labourer had also drowned in the pool recently.

“This pool has become a dreaded location for us. We have warned people about it but accidents still happen regularly. It is a 4km long pool and very deep. It can’t be left abandoned this way. The Authority should take steps,” Satender said.

Repeated calls to multiple GNIDA officials for a comment went unanswered.