For nearly two days, a boy aged about 12 lay in a ditch with flies all over his charred body, barely 50m from the emergency ward of Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH).

After being admitted to the hospital on March 11, the boy, who identified himself as Suraj, silently walked out of the burns ward the next day, only to fall into a dry ditch right in front of the emergency ward.

Police swung into action on Wednesday to find out under what circumstances the boy was injured and how he landed in the hospital, a day after a representative of Childline service rescued him from the ditch and re-admitted him.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar has, on his part, ordered a probe to find out how the boy was injured critically.

Wednesday was unusually hectic for the child as several Patna police and district administration officers visited him in the hospital.

Pankaj Kumar, the representative of Childline, told The Telegraph that on being asked repeatedly, the boy had said he used to work at a hotel and his employer, one Kanhaiya, had poured hot water on him for allegedly stealing his sandals.

“I had gone to the PMCH to inspect the treatment of another child when I found the boy lying in a drain. Half his body was burnt and there were flies all over him. I picked him up with the help of some people and took him to the emergency ward,” Pankaj said.

“An attendant in the burns ward told me that the boy was admitted to the hospital a couple of days ago. It is strange that nobody noticed how and when he left,” the Childline representative added.

Pankaj further said the boy was speaking in bits and pieces. “He initially refused to talk to me. But after a lot of insistence, he said his name was Suraj. He, however, could not identify the area where the hotel was located.”

The boy’s plight also rocked the Legislative Council on Wednesday with RJD leader Ghulam Gaus raising the issue during the Zero Hour. The chief minister, answering Gaus’s query, said he has directed director-general of police (DGP) Abhayanand to immediately look into the matter.

Deputy superintendent of police (Town) Ramakant Prasad also visited the boy in the hospital. “It is difficult to say anything right now. But we have learnt that the boy was admitted to the PMCH on March 11. He was brought here from Fatuha, about 40km from Patna. He is in a state of shock and not talking much,” Prasad told The Telegraph.

PMCH superintendent O.P. Chowdhary said the boy had suffered 27 per cent burn injuries. “We are concerned about the treatment and moni-toring his condition,” he said.

Six months ago, Childline representatives had found a 10-year-old boy in an unconscious condition near Moin-ul-Haq Stadium under the Kadamkuan police station. The boy, who was in his school uniform, was taken to the PMCH, where doctors said he had been drugged. After regaining sense, the boy, who stayed with his relatives in the Kankerbagh area, had said he was drugged by a rickshaw puller.