FIR registered against BBMP engineers, driver of cab in the death of Vijayawada engineer

The deceased, Bhanurekha. (Supplied)

Police sources explained that the civil authority should have ideally maintained the underpass by removing the silt, and the water could have drained, preventing it from becoming dangerous to human lives.

Based on a complaint from the brother of the deceased, Batula Sandeep, the Central Division police registered a case.

The police also booked the driver of the tourist vehicle, Harish Gowda, who ventured into the flooded underpass.

The deceased, Bhanurekha, was one of seven people, including the driver, travelling in a car that went under the water that flooded the underpass on Sunday after heavy rain and hailstones hit the city on Sunday, 21 May.

Fire and Emergency Services personnel, along with members of the general public, rescued the family from the car when it was in neck-deep water.

Unfortunately, Bhanurekha was declared dead on arrival at St Martha’s Hospital.

Also Read: Woman dies after car zooms into rain-flooded B’luru underpass

The other side of the story

According to a video of driver Harish talking to reporters, he claimed that a car and an auto-rickshaw passed through the underpass in front of him.

There was another auto-rickshaw coming up behind him whose driver told Harish to move his car as it would pass through the water at the underpass.

“That auto-rickshaw driver stopped but insisted that I should go, so I crossed. In just two minutes, the entire underpass was filled with water and the car’s engine got switched off,” he told reporters.

Harish said that he was on the way to Hosur Road via the City Municipal Corporation office when his car got trapped in the flooded underpass.

Fire service personnel had to access the underpass using ladders to rescue the passengers trapped inside the car.

Leaders react

Following the incident, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah rushed to the hospital and took stock of the situation.

He subsequently announced a compensation of ₹5 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and free treatment for those admitted to the hospital.

https://twitter.com/CMofKarnataka/status/1660266705476784128

“The family from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh had hired a car and had come to see Bengaluru. Bhanurekha works in Infosys. Due to the downpour, the barricade at the underpass fell down and the driver took the risk of crossing the underpass, which he should not have,” Siddaramaiah told reporters.

When reporters complained that doctors refused to treat Bhanurekha for about 30 minutes after she was rescued and that she was alive when she was taken to the hospital, Siddaramaiah said that he would ensure an investigation and initiate action if there is a case of medical negligence.

Meanwhile, former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai accused the BBMP officials of negligence in taking up precautionary measures, despite the warning by the Meteorological Department about the heavy rains.

He said that it was painful that the life of a woman was snuffed out by the rains that lashed only for a few hours in the state capital.

ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸುರಿದ ಮಳೆಗೆ ಭಾನುರೇಖಾ ಎಂಬ ಯುವತಿ ಕೆ. ಆರ್. ಸರ್ಕಲ್ ಅಂಡರ್ ಪಾಸ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ನೀರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿಲುಕಿ ಸಾವಿಗೀಡಾದ ಸುದ್ದಿ ತಿಳಿದು ಮನಸಿಗೆ ದುಖವಾಯಿತು. ಮೃತ ಯುವತಿಯ ಆತ್ಮಕ್ಕೆ ಶಾಂತಿ ದೊರಕಿಸಿಕೊಡಲಿ ಎಂದು ಆ ದೇವರಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಾರ್ಥಿಸುತ್ತೇನೆ.

ಹೊಸ ಸರ್ಕಾರ ತಕ್ಷಣವೇ ಕಾರ್ಯಪ್ರವೃತವಾಗಿ ಮಳೆಯಿಂದ ಉಂಟಾಗಬಹುದಾದ ಹಾನಿಯನ್ನು…

— Basavaraj S Bommai (Modi Ka Parivar) (@BSBommai) May 21, 2023

“Soon after the incident, the civic body officials never went to the rescue of the affected people. We have formed SDRF teams in Bengaluru but that needs to be launched and given more work. The Meteorological Department has predicted heavy rains in the next five days. Required precautions must be taken on war footing as several trees have fallen across the city. Those trees have not been cleared yet. If allowed as it remains, there will be chaos in Bengaluru. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah must take immediate steps in this direction. In BBMP, some officials work continuously and many don’t work at all.  Proper planning must be done in advance,” said Bommai.

Also Read: BBMP says road across Bengaluru’s Hoskerehalli Lake is temporary

Civic authority audits underpasses 

After the incident, the underpass has been shut for vehicular movement since Monday. Following the tragedy, the BBMP started an audit of all underpasses in the city.

“We are undertaking an audit of all the underpasses so that such incidents do not occur in future. We are closing those underpasses that are not fit to use,” Chief Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath told reporters.

Nath also said that he had directed chief engineer of the civic agency to ensure that water drained from these underpasses through the stormwater drains.

According to him, such an exercise has been undertaken at 18 underpasses in the city.

Also Read: Karnataka HC displeased over BBMP report on illegal hoardings

Other incidents

Meanwhile, a 32-year-old man, a resident of KP Agrahara in West Bengaluru, was washed away in Rajakaluve on Sunday evening.

The deceased, identified as Lokesh, was working as a housekeeping staff and was at his house on Sunday when a Rajakaluve close to his house overflowed.

According to the police, Lokesh’s neighbours had warned him not to venture into the waters as he was trying to check how deep it was.

Unfortunately, he was washed away by the force of the water current and his body was found around 1,500 yards away from where he fell, the police said.

The KP Agrahara police have taken up a case of unnatural death and are investigating further.