The parents of a two-year-old found him drowned in a 20-litre bucket in the washroom of their Haridevpur home on Tuesday morning.

Jeet Maikap’s head and chest were under water and his feet were sticking out in the air when his parents Sanjay and Tapati spotted him.

The child had apparently fallen into the bucket while Sanjay, who works for a government undertaking, was asleep in the adjoining room and Tapati was out for a morning walk.

“When Tapati, a regular morning walker, left home around 5.30am, Jeet was sleeping next to his father in their bedroom,” said an officer of Haridevpur police station.

When she returned an hour later, Jeet was not in bed. After making a round of all the rooms, Tapati woke up her husband, fearing that the child had slipped out of their home.

“The first time the couple peeped into the washroom, they did not see the boy. When a search outside proved futile, they started to look for him in their home once again. This time, they saw two little feet sticking out of the bucket in the bathroom,” added the officer.

They took the boy to a local nursing home, where a doctor said he was dead.

The bucket is about 16inch high, which is up to the child’s waist, said a cop.