The body of a 2-year-old missing boy has been found inside an abandoned well in India. Though police initially thought it was an accidental death, things took a turn after his grandmother alleged the boy was killed by his dad.

The shocking discovery was made in a sugarcane field in the southern Indian state of Karnataka on Saturday evening, reported Deccan Herald. The child, identified as Sharad Hasare from the village of Belgavi, went missing Friday. An extensive search operation was launched after the boy's family filed a complaint with the local police.

During the search, officers noticed a borewell — a narrow, deep hole from which water is drawn using a pipe — on a farmland near the victim's house and the child's body was located 10 ft down the well. Fire and Rescue personnel rushed to the spot and recovered the body from the deep hole. It was sent for autopsy.

The borewell was dug six months ago near the child's house and it was abandoned later. However, the opening was not closed.

Investigators initially thought the child accidentally fell into the well while playing near it. However, the child's grandmother claimed the boy's father, Siddappa Hasare, murdered the child before dumping the body in the borewell. She alleged Siddappa used to have arguments with his wife over the child's parentage as he suspected her fidelity.

"A kidnapping complaint had been filed and we shall investigate the angle. There were also other allegations regarding the incident that has come to the fore and we shall look into all angles," a senior police official told Deccan Herald.

The father has been taken into custody for questioning. Though police did not reveal more details, local reports said it was Siddappa who led officers to the borewell.

Many cases of children getting trapped inside abandoned borewells have been reported in India. In 2019, the decomposed body of a 2-year-old was retrieved from a borewell. The rescue operation had lasted four days.

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Representational picture Pixabay
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