15-year-old drowns in Delhi’s Chanakyapuri

A 15-year-old boy, playing with his friends on a waterlogged road, drowned in Chanakyapuri on Friday afternoon, in a freak accident where the boy slipped and was trapped under a parked car.
The victim, identified as Class 9 student Saurabh Kumar, had stepped out to play in the rain on San Martin Marg right in front of the British School with 8-10 friends. He slipped under a car stationary and drowned in the 3-4ft-deep water that had accumulated there after Friday morning’s rain, police officers aware of the matter said on Friday.
Kumar, who studied at Atal Adarsh Vidyalaya at Bapu Dham in Chanakyapuri, lived barely 100m from where he died, his family members said.
The incident took place around 12.30pm. Locals rushed to save the boy when his friends screamed for help. Some passersby even tried to give him CPR, but to no avail.
“We received a call around 12.30pm and the boy was rushed to Primus Hospital nearby. He was declared brought dead by the doctors who told us that it was death due to drowning. His body was taken to the RML mortuary for the autopsy, following which his body was returned to the family,” a senior police officer in the New Delhi district said requesting anonymity.
At least 9 nine people have drowned in rain-related incidents since the start of the monsoon, according to a count by HT.
Meanwhile, the family, who were unaware of the sequence of events, staged a protest at RML hospital and refused to take back the body.
Kumar’s mother Kaushalaya Devi, a daily wager, was inconsolable. In 2018, she lost Saurabh’s elder brother Rahul Kumar (16) on the same road after he was mowed down by a school bus.
“He wanted to be a race car driver. He was very active and hardworking. He told me he was going out to play in the rain and did not venture far from the house. I don’t understand how he drowned. This was the same road on which I lost my other son.”
Kumar’s sister Preeti Kumar, 20, a student of the School of Open Learning, said Kumar was the youngest in the family. “He told me he would be back in an hour but never came back. I tried to contact his friends but they are not talking to me,” she said.
According to the family and police, Kumar was with his friends, all of whom live at Vivekanada Camp.
HT tried to reach out to the boys at their addresses, but their parents refused to talk.
Dilip Narang, a factory worker, said, “The boys are all scared now. They were swimming and sliding when it happened. They were enjoying the rain and Kumar slipped under a parked car and drowned. By the time others tried to rescue him, he already died. The NDMC came hours later and cleared the water. But it never takes responsibility. Our homes are still filled with water. There’s no drainage system around Vivekananda Camp, San Martin Marg, Jesus and Mary College and from Qatar Embassy…”
An eyewitness said, “The boys were racing in rainwater and sliding on the road. Suddenly two to three boys started screaming for help. We all went to rescue Kumar but he was dead by then. He was stuck under a white car.”