Two children were pulled out of a 10-foot-deep drain by two delivery workers who heard their cries, minutes after their stepfather allegedly threw them in late Tuesday near Paras Tierra Society in Sector 137.
Two children were pulled out of a 10-foot-deep, sludge-filled drain by alert delivery workers who heard their desperate cries on Tuesday night. The disturbing incident unfolded near Paras Tierra Society in Sector 137, where the children’s stepfather had allegedly thrown them into the drain. Police have arrested the accused, while the children remain under medical observation at a private hospital.
According to police, Zepto delivery executives Somveer Singh and his colleague Deenvandu were returning after their final delivery run around 9 pm when faint, frantic voices from a drain near the Chauhan market T-point stopped them in their tracks.
Sensing imminent danger, the duo moved close, only to find a four-year-old girl and her two-and-a-half-year-old brother stranded in the stagnant water nearly three metres below ground. Terrified and drenched, the children were struggling to stay afloat in the thick slush. Both men jumped into the drain and lifted them to safety.
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Singh, who later filed a complaint, said that once the duo was secure, he gently asked them what had happened. The traumatised children immediately responded that their "father, Ashish" had pushed them into the drain just minutes earlier. The delivery workers quickly alerted nearby residents, who rushed the children to a hospital where they were given first aid and kept under observation.
Police later confirmed that Ashish (22), a security guard, is the children’s stepfather. Police say he was unwilling to take responsibility for the children and allegedly "resented their presence". Officers revealed that he waited until their mother, Neelam, was away before carrying the children to the drain and deliberately pushing them in.
Neelam and Ashish, both natives of Kanpur, had known each other for years. Neelam was previously married to Ashish’s cousin but left that relationship before moving to Noida with Ashish and her two children. The family had shifted to a rented accommodation in Shahdara about a year ago.
Based on Singh’s complaint, an FIR has been registered under BNS sections 109(1) (attempt to murder) and 93 (exposure and abandonment of a child under 12 years by a guardian). Ashish was arrested on Wednesday near Sector 142 metro station. Preliminary interrogation, police said, indicates that Ashish "did not want the children to live with him".
