NEW DELHI: A distressed father was seen entering an open drain with a stick in hand to search for his 15-year-old son Mithun, hours before the boy was found dead after falling into the drain in southeast Delhi’s Jasola while chasing a kite.A video purportedly showing Mithun’s father, Awadhesh Kumar, searching the drain has surfaced on social media. The footage shows him stepping into the water himself as rescue teams struggled to locate his son.Mithun, a Class VIII student at a government school and a resident of Jasola, fell into the open drain around 11am on Saturday while chasing a kite.His family raised the alarm after realising he was missing and alerted the authorities. The Delhi Fire Service received information at 11.54am, while Sarita Vihar police station was informed at 12.04pm. Two fire tenders were sent to the spot.The search was later expanded to teams from the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), Delhi Police, Delhi Fire Service, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Boat Club.Police said the fast flow of water in the drain made the rescue operation difficult.Mithun’s father had earlier said the drain was completely open and expressed hope that rescue teams would be able to locate his son.Mithun’s elder brother Joginder said a family member had seen the teenager fall into the water and tried to save him.“My sister-in-law saw him tumble into the water. She jumped in to save him but he had gone too far by then. I then went ahead and checked everywhere but could not find him.”The NDRF team joined the search by evening. The operation was called off late Saturday night because darkness made it difficult for rescuers to continue and resumed on Sunday morning.The boy was subsequently found dead, bringing the search operation to a tragic end.The incident has also raised questions over the responsibility for maintaining the drain. The Delhi Jal Board said the Kachha Nallah, which carries treated effluent from the Okhla sewage treatment plant, had been handed over to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and was not maintained by it.The Delhi government’s flood and irrigation department also denied having jurisdiction over the drain. MCD, meanwhile, said the irrigation and flood control department was responsible for its maintenance.
