‘Filed plaint with BMC 4 months ago’

BHOPAL: A six-year-old boy was mauled to death by half a dozen stray dogs when he was playing in an open field in Shiv Sangam Nagar of Awadhpuri on Friday evening. What’s even more horrifying, his mother saw the savage attack and tried to save him, but the killer pack turned on her.Little Sanju’s mutilated body lay in his house till around 9.30pm because police were waiting for an ambulance. All the while, his mother — who is recovering from surgery — wailed incessantly. He had turned six last month. Enraged by the child’s death, locals accused Bhopal Municipal Corporation of negligence. Several of them said they were bitted by the pack over the past few weeks, but BMC did nothing beyond tokenism. “I was attacked and bitten at 6am on April 17. Around four months ago, BMC just completed formalities by catching 3-4 dogs but there are more than 20 ferocious strays in the area that chase bikers and bite pedestrians,” said Roop Singh Pal, a neighbour of the dead child.Awadhpuri SHO M L Bhati said no one realized that Sanju had gone out to play. His mother, Savitri, gave birth to a baby girl on April 1and underwent a hysterectomy immediately. She was resting at home when her husband, Harinarayan Jatav, returned from work and asked for Sanju. Savitri stepped out to look for him and was horrified to see him being mauled by a pack of strays just 300m away.Savitri rushed to rescue him but the dogs turned on her. She ran back towards home, screaming for help. Neighbours banded together and chased the dogs away but by then Sanju lay motionless, bleeding from dozens of wounds. They took him to hospital on a bike, but he was declared dead on arrival. Savitri is inconsolable. She kept screaming that they couldn’t even celebrate Sanju’s last birthday because she was in hospital.Locals said street dogs have become a terror in the area and they had filed a complaint with BMC four months ago. The dog squad caught around four strays but brought them back to the colony after a few days.A neighbour said the dogs bit him last month. Harinarayan’s colleague Hakam Singh told TOI that Sanju probably went out to play around 5.30pm.Right next to the playground is a nullah where a colony of pigs has made its home. The strays hunt and eat piglets, and have become predators, said locals. TOI saw a BMC dog squad arrive around 8.30pm and start rounding up the killer pack.