Five BESCom officials arrested, compensation of Rs. 5 lakh each to deceased family

Bengaluru: A woman and her nine-month-old baby girl lost their lives after the woman accidentally stepped on an unattended live electric wire on the pavement near Hope Farm in Kadugodi Police limits in Bengaluru yesterday.

The victims have been identified as Soundarya (23) and her daughter Suviksha. They were walking home after arriving from Tamil Nadu when the incident took place. By the time people rushed to their help, they were charred to death.

Kadugodi Police, who registered an FIR against five Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCom) officials charging them with causing death due to negligence, have arrested Executive Engineer Sriram, Assistant Engineer S. Chethan, Assistant Executive Engineer T. Subramanya, Junior Engineer Rajanna and Station Operator Manjunath.

According to the complaint filed by Soundarya’s husband Santosh Kumar, the family had gone to his native place, Neyveli, in Tamil Nadu and were returning to their house in AKG Colony.

They got down at Silk Board junction and took a bus to Hope Farm to reach their home. As they were walking towards the home at about 5 am, Soundarya stepped on the live power line during which she and her baby were electrocuted, caught fire and were charred to death in front of him (Santosh).

Alleging negligence on the part of BESCom officials, Santosh filed a complaint with Kadugodi Police, who registered a case IPC Section 304A and arrested the five BESCOM officials.

Energy Minister K.J. George announced that an inquiry was underway and the lineman, Assistant Engineer and Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) were suspended for dereliction of duty.

The Minister has tweeted that a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh each will be provided by the                        State Government.

After post-mortem, the bodies were handed over to Soundarya’s parents which has created controversy.