Loose live wires of an advertisement board on a road divider led to the electrocution of Akhila Somashekar.
The divider where Akhila was found. (Supplied)
Companies along the Outer Ring Road of Bengaluru recently complained to Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai that they lost ₹225 crore due to a single day’s rain, which flooded roads across the city.
However, their loss might pale in comparison to that of a family from Siddapura in the Whitefield area of the city, which lost its sole breadwinner to circumstances precipitated by the rain.
A gardener and his homemaker wife waited with their differently-abled son for their daughter, but Akhila Somashekar didn’t return home on Monday, 5 September.
Instead, passers-by found her beside her two-wheeler around 9 pm, and managed to inform her family, who hurried to the spot.
They tried to rush Akhila to a nearby hospital, but the traffic jam prevented them, her father Somashekar would later tell the police.
When they did manage to get to the hospital, the doctors declared Akhila dead on arrival. It was then that Somashekar lodged a complaint with the police.
Akhila Somashekar. (Supplied)
One of three siblings, Akhila was a BCom graduate who worked as an office administrator at a music school in BEML Layout, the police said.
On Monday, Akhila left the music school around 8 pm and was heading home on her two-wheeler when she felt she was losing her balance on the waterlogged road near Mayura Bakery.
She decided to turn her bike off and started pushing it home. A car created a wave in the stagnant water, which hit both Akhila and her scooter, causing her to fall towards the divider on the road.
There was an advertisement flex board on the divider, with wires hanging loose at the bottom of the iron structure.
Apparently, Akhila came in contact with the live wires and got electrocuted. The incident is said to have taken place around 9 pm.
Akhila’s two-wheeler. (Supplied)
Based on Somashekar’s report, the police registered a case of accidental death due to criminal negligence against the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM.)
“During the course of the investigation, we will have to inquire into others who could be made a party to this case,” the police officer investigating the case told South First.
“We have asked BBMP and BESCOM officials to furnish the permission documents for advertisement boards in the divider,” he added.
“The advertising firm that had obtained the contract could also be made a party to the case as it could be held culpable for the crime because it had left the live wires loose on a public road,” investigating officer said.
In another incident, a pedestrian on Monday fell into a drain pit dug by the BBMP for laying hume pipes. The drain was left open without any barricades or warning signs, and the waterlogging had obscured it from view.
Fortunately, the pedestrian’s fall was noticed by a few security guards at Ecospace on the Outer Ring Road. They rushed to the spot and pulled him out of the pit.
He was unconscious, and the guards called for an ambulance and shifted him to Sakra Hospital, where he was administered first-aid and was discharged. No police complaint was filed.
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