Gujarat: Four-year-old found dead in parked car

AHMEDABAD: Mystery shrouds the death of a four-year-old boy Aksh alias Akshay Salram Devakar of Hirawadi in Bapunagar who was found dead on Thursday noon inside a car parked near his house since 20 days. While police say that the death was due to suffocation and people had seen him enter the car and there is no foul play anywhere, the family of the boy also submitted in writing that they don’t want a postmortem done and they cremated the boy. The car was not seen on Saturday.
Inspector H B Chaudhary of Bapunagar police station said they have made an entry in the station dairy regarding the incident and are conducting an inquiry. “The parents of the boy gave us in writing that they don’t want a postmortem and hence we gave them the body for last rites,” he added.
According to police source it was on Thursday noon that two of Salram and Anita’s four children- Akshay, 4, and Lucky, 7, had gone to play outside their house. “They entered the car parked near the house but after some time they went for food. Askshay again went out and entered the car without the knowledge of Lucky and their elder brother Gagan, 10. They went to search for him and found him on the back seat of the car with some almonds lying by his side,” said police officer.
Their neighbour Ravisingh Chauhan said Gagan came running to his house and said that his brother was lying in the back seat of the car. “I rushed to the car. The boy was frothing at the mouth. We rushed her to the civil hospital but the paramedical staff of the ambulance, on the way itself said that the boy was dead. Doctors at the civil hospital also confirmed his death,” said Ravi.
DCP Zone- 5 Akshayraj Makwana said they were informed by the hospital about the boy’s death and a team reached there. “However, as the parents of the boy did not want the postmortem to happen and gave the same in writing to us, we allowed them to take the body,” the DCP added.
Inspector Chaudhary told TOI that they have made an entry in the police station diary and are conducting investigation regarding the cause of death of the child. “We have enough witnesses to establish that the boy has died of suffocation in the car,” he said.
A senior forensic medical official said that the IO has the power to take a decision whether to go for a postmortem or not under CrPC 174. “However, we personally believe that if a victim is a minor, postmortem is essential to ascertain the cause of death,” said a forensic expert.