Team Herald
PONDA: In a tragic incident reported on Thursday afternoon, two siblings 10-year-old Navya Deepak Naik and her three-year-old brother Harsh Deepak Naik met a watery grave in an open tank located behind their house at Karmale-Querim.
The incident came to light when their father Deepak Naik returned home for lunch at around 2.30 pm and found that both Navya and Harsh were not at home. After inquiring with his brother, who resides in a separate house nearby, the brother told Deepak that both kids after having lunch had left for their home.
Deepak went in search of his children only to find the bodies of Navya and Harsh inside the open tank which was constructed for supplying water to the kulagar. After retrieving them, the children were immediately shifted to Ponda Sub District Hospital where they were declared brought dead.
Deepak works as accountant in PWD while, his wife is employed on contract basis in the Forest Department.
The children were in the care of their grandparents when the parents were at work.
However, as Deepak’s father had a surgery scheduled at Ponda Hospital, the grandparents were in Ponda and the children were kept at their uncle’s house.
According to locals, as usual Navya, studying in Class II at a primary school in her village had returned from school at 10 am on Thursday. She and her brother Harsh had lunch at their uncle’s house and while on their way back home they might have accidentally fallen into the water tank behind their house and got drowned. The construction of the water tank is in progress to store water for irrigation to the kulagar. However, the same was left open.
The post-mortem report conducted at Hospicio Hospital, Margao revealed that the kids died due to drowning.
Speaking to media persons, Ponda PI Vijaykumar Chodankar said they received a call at 3 pm informing them that two siblings have been brought dead to the Ponda Sub District Hospital with the post-mortem report revealing their deaths due to drowning.
Ponda PI said further inquiry revealed that the two siblings got drowned in a tank which was constructed to supply water for beetle nut trees near their house. Ponda Police said they are conducting further inquiry into the incident.
After the post-mortem, the bodies of Navya and Harsh were handed over to their family.
PI Chodankar, DySP C L Patil and police team conducted the panchanama. Local MLA and Minister Govind Gaude visited the spot. Police are yet to record the statements of the family members.
