The disappearance of a six-year-old boy in Bangalore, a fortnight ago, has cost the city Municipal Commissioner his job, triggered a battle of egos among key administrative leaders in the state, and left a puzzling unsolved mystery in its wake.

Six-year-old Abhishek, according to his mother Bharathi, went missing on May 31 amid a thunderstorm when she lost her grip on his hand while trying to hang on to an umbrella on way to their home in east Bangalore. According to the events narrated by an emotional Bharathi, her son was sucked into an open drain as they walked through a giant pool of water that Sunday evening.

In the aftermath of the event the city corporation felt the heat of citizens’ ire over unfinished drainage works and the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) Commissioner S Subramanya announced Rs 1 lakh as compensation for Abhishek’s family — comprising an elder sister, mother and father Prakash Raju, a bank security guard. In its defence, the BBMP claimed that it was difficult to foolproof the city to such incidents.

An all-out search was initiated by the BBMP in the drainage system flowing into the Hennur Lake, located around 10 km downstream from the site where the child is said to have vanished.

While the search began, several leaders, including the Karnataka Lok Ayukta Justice Santhosh Hegde and Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa began paying visits to the grieving family to offer condolences and express solidarity.

The Lok Ayukta, who had already been at loggerheads with the BBMP and its Commissioner over several issues, in the course of his visit to the family attacked the BBMP for not showing sufficient responsibility. “The BBMP should have done a more responsible job,” he said. In a reference to the Commissioner, the Lok Ayukta said the responsibility with which a work is undertaken is more important than any official. He denied the BBMP allegations that a Lok Ayukta investigation had delayed completion of drain projects in the city. “The BBMP should expand its limits in the city and not look for excuses. It is their job to look after civic issues in the city and they should not lay the blame at someone else’s door,” Justice Hedge said.

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