Bangalore: Army begins de-weeding to recover boy's body

Bangalore: Army personnel are yet to find the body of a six-year-old child Abhishek who fell into a drain on May 31.

Following the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike's (city corporation) request to the Army to help in tracing the body of Abhishek, 60 personnel of the Madras Engineering Group (MEG) Centre were deployed to carry out de-weeding of Hennur lake, where the body could have got stuck, the Army sources said.

It’s been over a week but extensive search has not yielded any result.

The army was brought in after the city corporation was accused of not doing enough to recover Abhishek's body.

As many as 60 military personnel and 50 gang men form the city corporation are involved in the search.

After discussions between senior Army officials and BBMP, it was inferred that the body may not have gone beyond the Hennur lake, they said.

The Army had conducted a reconnaissance in conjunction with BBMP engineers on June six and seven and the latter had already de-slited a one kilometer stretch of the drain and would continue to de-silt the Hennur lake.

The municipal corporation has drawn much flak from various quarters over the issue and also for leaving drains in the city open.

The Karnataka High Court on June 3 rapped the BBMP for its failure to trace Abhishek's body while hearing another petition concerned with the municipal corporation.