Three school boys, between 10 and 13 years old, drowned when they went to swim in the Varaladevi lake, Bhiwandi, on Wednesday evening. While the bodies of two kids were recovered on Thursday evening, that of the third boy was recovered on Friday.
The deceased have been identified as Gulam Ansari, 13, Sahil Mohammad, 10, and Dilbar Shamshullah, 12. Residents of the Pir.pada area in Bhiwandi’s Shantinagar, the trio studied at an Urdu school in classes 5 and 6. The police said that the three friends had left home to play on Wednesday around 4pm. Their family members got worried when they did not return home till late night. On Thursday afternoon, the families of the victims registered a case, suspecting kidnappings.
The cops said that they were alerted by locals, who first spotted a body floating in the lake on Thursday afternoon. The cops passed on the information to the fire brigade, which rushed to the spot and fished out Ansari’s body found afloat. The search for the other two boys began on Thursday evening, leading to the discovery of Mohammed’s body. However, the search operation was called off when the third body could not be found till late night. The exercise resumed on Friday morning and the officials managed to salvage Raza’s body.
Krishan Kharade, senior inspector from the Bhiwandi city police station, said, “Currently, we have registered an accidental death report. Preliminary probe revealed that the trio had gone for a swim, however, they could not gauge the depth of the water and drowned. Further investigation is ongoing.”
