A three-year-old boy fell into an open canal and drowned while playing outside his house in Tiruvallur district on Monday (December 30, 2024) evening.

A senior police official from the district said the deceased has been identified as Mithran. His parents Senthil Kumar, a painter, and Mangai lived in Vengathur village near Tiruvallur. The couple also has a daughter, Jeevitha, aged 12.

On Monday evening, when Senthilkumar was away at work and Mangai was engaged in household chores, Mithran stepped outside the house to play. A few minutes later, when Mangai noticed he was not inside the house, she began calling out for him.

She and a few neighbours searched for him, and his body was found in the canal leading to Aranvoyal lake. The Manavalan Nagar police, on being alerted about the incident, sent the child’s body to Tiruvallur Government General Hospital for postmortem examination.

The police have filed a case and further investigation is underway.