Patna: The body of a three-year-old toddler, who was missing for the last three days, was recovered from a canal at Sigariyawan village under Shahjahanpur police station area of Patna district on Sunday morning. The child had gone out to play around 4pm on Thursday but did not return home.
According to police, the deceased was identified as Rishab Kumar, son of Neeraj Kumar and Priyanka Kumari, residents of Shivachak village under Fatuha police station area. On being informed about the body, a police team reached the village and took the body into their custody, and sent it to the hospital for postmortem. The child was living at his grandmother's house in the village for the last three months.
Superintendent of police (Rural) Vishwajeet Dayal said that some kids from the village went to the Ahar (seasonal water body) to relieve themselves when they spotted the body in the nearby canal and raised an alarm. "The locals gathered at the spot and informed the police. The child was identified as Rishab, who was missing since December 12," he said.
The SP said that a missing complaint was registered by his parents at Shahjahanpur police station the same day. "The actual reason behind the death will be ascertained once the medical report comes. A few suspects have been taken into custody for interrogation, but nothing concrete has been found yet. The family members raised suspicion over a widow, and the police have been questioning her too," the SP told this newspaper.
The forensic team and the dog squad were called to the spot, and they collected the evidence. Rishabh was the only child of his parents. The incident has left family members devastated. A suspected murder case has been registered at Shahjahanpur police station.
Meanwhile, after getting information about the incident, local MLA (of Bakhtiyyapur) Anirudh Yadav also reached the spot and took cognizance of the matter. He met the victim's family, consoled them, and also demanded immediate action against the accused.