The autopsy of the toddler who was pulled out from a 150-feet deep borewell on Tuesday morning in Sangrur district Punjab, showed that he had died “a few days back”, PTI reported. The two-year-old Fatehveer Singh was rushed to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, where he was declared brought dead.

“The postmortem findings are suggestive of death occurring a few days back,” the hospital said in a statement. “A detailed postmortem report is being prepared and would be handed over to the investigating officer. The mortal remains of the child were handed over to the police and relatives.”

“On admission, he had no pulse, no respiration and no cardiac activity, hence, the child was declared brought in dead,” the hospital added.

Singh fell into the borewell in a field when he was playing in Bhagwanpura village on Thursday around 4 pm. The borewell was covered with a cloth and the boy accidentally stepped on it. His mother tried to rescue him, but failed. He was stuck in the seven-inch wide borewell at a depth of 125 feet.

A rescue operation was launched to pull the child out safely. Officials managed to supply oxygen but no food or water could be provided to him.

A parallel tunnel of 36 inches in diameter was dug to rescue the child. On June 6, the National Disaster Response Force team suspended a rope into the borewell, but the child could not be pulled out.

The borewell was dug by Singh’s family in 1984. They used to draw water from it to irrigate the fields. It was last used in 1991.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said he was very sad to hear about the death. “I pray Waheguru grants his family strength to bear this huge loss,” he tweeted. “Have sought reports from all DCs regarding any open bore well, so such terrible accidents can be prevented in future.”