Residents allege that the child was a victim of electrocution and blamed the residents' welfare association members for their negligence.
Published Dec 29, 2023 | 4:04 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 29, 2023 | 4:06 PM
Apartment complex swimming pool. Representational image. (iStock)
A nine-year-old girl was found dead in the swimming pool of a luxurious residential apartment complex in Varthur, East Bengaluru, on the night of Thursday, 28 December.
The deceased, identified as Manasa Damerla, was the only daughter of software engineer Rajesh Kumar Damerla and his wife.
They were natives of Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, the police said, adding that Manasa was a fourth-grade student at a private school.
According to the police, the incident took place between 7.30 pm and 8 pm at the Prestige Lakeside Habitat Apartment, located on the Varthur-Gunjur Main Road, which falls under the Varthur Police Station limits.
Manasa had informed her parents that she was going to play within the apartment premises with her friends and had left the house in the evening.
“There are around 17 high-rise towers and nearly 3,500 units ranging from single-bedroom to four-bedroom apartments. The swimming pool remains open to residents and is frequently in use,” a senior police officer told South First.
He added, “We are checking the CCTV footage at the entrance-exit of the swimming pool to rule out foul play.”
The incident came to light around 8 pm when a few neighbours spotted the child inside the swimming pool. They immediately informed her parents, and with the help of an ambulance, she was transferred to a nearby private hospital.
“The neighbours claimed that the child’s pulse was low while she was being rushed to the hospital, however, the doctors declared her dead on arrival,” a senior police officer told South First.
A medico-legal case (MLC) was registered and the jurisdictional Varthur Police was informed about the death of the nine-year-old.
Meanwhile, around 60 to 80 residents at the apartment staged a protest on Thursday night against the apartment’s residents’ welfare association members and blamed their negligence for the child’s death. They also alleged that the child was a victim of electrocution and that she had fallen into the swimming pool after.
However, there is no CCTV present at the swimming pool as it is a private area of the apartment. One of the residents in the apartment complex informed the police about a past incident where their child sustained an electric shock near the swimming pool after accidentally stepping on a live wire connected to a floor light.
Fortunately, nothing serious happened to that child. But the incident remains fresh in the minds of the residents.
Despite complaints to the association members several times about the loose electric live wires, nothing has been rectified by the association members so far, the residents alleged to the Hoysala patrol vehicle team, who arrived at the scene to pacify the crowd.
However, during their investigation, the Varthur police, who had thoroughly examined the swimming pool area, could not find any loose electric wires.
During inquiries, a few residents told the police that the child might have ventured into the pool to retrieve a ball that had fallen into the swimming pool.
“However, the spot where the child’s body was found was not deep enough and the child could have easily stood up without drowning; although the swimming pool is deep in the centre,” a police officer said.
Based on a complaint from the child’s father, Rajesh Kumar Damerla, the police have taken up a case of unnatural death under suspicious circumstances under Section 174-C of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and are investigating further.
“The child’s father had alleged in his complaint that there is suspicion that the child could have suffered electrocution, and so we have taken up the case accordingly,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Whitefield division) Dr Shivakumar told South First.
“The body of the child was subjected to postmortem, and we have also sent the child’s visceral samples to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for histopathology in case there is any electrocution involved,” he added.
“We are awaiting the postmortem report and the histopathology results to ascertain the exact cause of death,” he said.
