The kids had gone to take a bath in a pit filled with rainwater in Sector 111, near their house. (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)“Will Rs 2 lakh bring back my son?” asked a distraught Sushma, sitting on the floor of her house in Gurgaon’s Shankar Colony. Her son Piyush (12) and nephew Varun (9) were among the six children — aged 8 to 13 — from their colony, who drowned on Sunday while taking a bath in a pit filled with rainwater in Sector 111, near their house.
After a rescue operation lasting over four hours, the deputy commissioner had ordered an enquiry, while Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the families of the deceased.
“I am ready to pay Rs 4 lakh. Return our children to us. Jaan ki keemat ko paiso se kaise tol dein?” said Sushma. “Why have they left such areas uncovered?”
Police Monday said they had booked the chairman and director of real estate company M3M India. The FIR was registered on the complaint of father of 12-year-old Dev, one of the victims. Bajrang Prasad wrote in his complaint, “… the deep pits… were dug up by M3M… This incident occurred due to the company and its owners. Legal action should be taken against the accused.”
The FIR was registered against Basant Bansal, the chairman, and director Roop Bansal, under IPC sections 304 2 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 34 (common intention).
In a statement, M3M India, said the land where the incident allegedly took place is not in their possession. “We would like to clarify that M3M India is not in the possession of the said land and is not linked in any way with the incident in the FIR against Basant Bansal, founder chairman, M3M India, and Roop Bansal, director M3M India. The FIR is being defied.”
At the homes of the deceased, anger was palpable. “The area should have been barricaded. The children probably thought it’s a small pond and went for a bath; they did not know that the pits were deeper. The guard on duty also did not stop the children,” alleged Prasad.
In the opposite lane in the colony, Varun’s father Balkishan, a labourer, collected documents for his son’s last rites. “Yesterday afternoon, my sister’s son Piyush came knocking on our door and asked him to tag along to play. We did not know they were going there. He usually goes to tuition at that time, but it was a holiday,” said Balkishan.
Also among the victims were two brothers, Ajit (13) and Durgesh (11), who lived in the adjacent lane. Their mother, Madhu, sat on the stairs of her sister-in-law’s house on Monday. “Every house is in mourning. Four children were cremated next to each other… My younger one (Durgesh) wanted to join the police force,” she said, looking at his photo on a relative’s phone.
Relatives said around 4.15 pm, a boy who had accompanied the children came running and informed them that the children were drowning. “Initially, we heard one child had drowned and his body was recovered. When we reached, a security guard told us the other children had run away as they were scared. For four hours, we held on to hope that maybe some had survived. We searched for them frantically,” said Madhu. “But when I saw my sons’ clothes and slippers near the pit, I lost hope. An hour later their bodies were pulled out.”