A four-year old boy, 'Jihad', fell into a few hundred feet long pipe next to a playground at the Shahjahanpur Railway Colony on Friday afternoon. Fire fighters and ordinary people mounted a rescue bid once they learnt of the accident.
The rescuers lowered a borehole camera around 250 feet down the 14-inch-wide pipe, looking for the child for an hour without success.
State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who was present at the spot, expressed doubt about the child being down there in the pipe.
But fire service personnel are persisting with the rescue operation to be doubly sure.
Fire Service Deputy Assistant Director Md Halim spoke to the reporters at 10am Saturday, 17 hours after the frantic rescue efforts started.
"There is no victim down below... We have nothing more to do here. We are assisting the locals in their traditional methods."
But they had said on Friday evening that they had heard a child's voice and supplied food and oxygen.
Md Halim skirted reporters' queries about their earlier position and said, "I've come here at 4am. I am not aware of who said what before that."
Shahjahanpur police had taken Jihad's father Nasiruddin, who works as a security guard at the Motijheel School and College, into custody after 3am and is yet to release him.
Motijheel Police Additional Deputy Commissioner Anwar Hossain said, "He is in our custody for security concerns. He will remain with us until the situation returns to normal."
The child's uncle, 'Monir', said in the morning that the relatives had asked the police to ensure Jihad's father’s safety.
But he was unable to explain why Nasiruddin was being kept in police custody and not at home.
"Police took him away. Now we don't know where he is," Monir said.
Jihad is the youngest of his parents' three children. His mother Khadiza Begum was in a state of shock while neighbours tried to calm her.
Nasiruddin lives at house No. 41 in the railway colony.
A neighbour informed them that Jihad had fallen into the pit while playing with his friends around 3:30pm on Friday, the father had told reporters at night.
Although housewife 'Rahela' and a youth, 'Arif', said the same thing, no one, so far, has claimed having seen Jihad fall into the pit.
Rahela and Arif were also taken into police custody.
When asked what made him think Jihad had fallen into the pipe, Monir said, "Actually, we are not certain. People said they had seen him fall. And the fire service people also said he made four abortive attempts to get up, had juice and oxygen supplied."
He was also asked whether he thought that Jihad may have been abducted.
"We have no enemies. Everybody adored Jihad. I don't think anybody would do it (abduction)," he said.