The bodies of two children, who had been missing since Friday afternoon, were fished out of a water body in Hatiara on Saturday.
Mohammed Sohaib, 7, and Ramzan Ali, 10, who live in the same locality — Pir Saheb crossing — had stepped out to play on Friday afternoon, an officer of Bidhannagar commissionerate said.
Both the boys were staying at the house of Ali’s relative. While Sohaib was a resident of Narkeldanga, Ali lived in Dakshindari near Lake Town.
When they did not return even after their playtime was over, family members and neighbours mounted a search. They also informed the police that the boys were missing, the officer added.
On Saturday afternoon, residents of Hatiara’s Majherpara spotted a body floating in the pond.
They alerted the police and a team from Eco Park police station was dispatched to the spot.
The police team and divers then recovered the bodies of both the boys. They also informed the family members of the boys whose parents identified their bodies.
“We have sent both the bodies for post-mortem to ascertain the exact cause of death. Preliminary investigation has revealed that they had stepped out to play and had wandered off away from their locality. They somehow reached Majherpara it seems. Residents there informed us that they had seen a boy in the water body,” said a senior officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate.
Mohammed Sohaib’s uncle, however, said that it was unlikely that both the boys could have made it to the water body in the adjacent neighbourhood on their own.
“They couldn’t have gone there on their own. We want a proper investigation into this,” said the uncle, Mohammed Aftab.
The incident has left a pall of gloom in the neighbourhood in the semi-urban locality.