'One held over teen's accidental 'drowning'; lax probe claim being examined'

An 18-year-old boy was arrested here on Friday in a case of accidental drowning of a 17-year-old boy in a river in Bulandshahr three months ago, police said.

Shekhar was arrested from his house in Gejha village on charges of kidnapping, causing death by negligence and destroying evidence, the police said.

The accused had accompanied victim Sujeet Shah to Kakod in Bulandshahr on June 3 along with two others Sahil Saxena (22) and Annu (24), SHO Phase 2 police station Farmood Ali Pundir said.

While Sujeet was had accidently drowned, the other had fled the spot and not revealed the incident even to the victim's family, which had filed a complaint of missing with the Noida Police.

On Thursday night, hundreds of people had descended on road in Noida's Sector 93 and blocked traffic to protest against the alleged laxity by police in probing the matter.

Sujeet's parents, Geeta Devi and Lal Bahadur Shah, had earlier claimed laxity in the probe and accused SHO Pundir of manhandling them inside the police station, they according to a complaint, made to Noida police chief Vaibhav Krishna on June 23.

Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna said the family has approached him and all allegations are being looked into as the probe is underway.

"The fourth man who had accompanied Sahil, Annu and Sujeet to Kakod in Bulandshahr has been arrested. He has told the police that Sujeet died after accidentally drowning in the river, which has been confirmed in the police probe also," he said.

"As regards the claims of lax probe and accusations of manhandling the couple, these allegations are being looked into and action will be taken accordingly. Certainly the police station concerned (Phase 2) could have done more in this case," he told PTI.

Sahil and Annu were arrested during the investigation in June but were released after a few days in jail, according to the police.