2 days ago
5 electrocuted as Janmashtami chariot touches live wire in city
Hyderabad: Janmashtami celebrations turned tragic for a group of devotees in Old Ramanthapur early on Monday morning after five people participating in the rath yatra died of electrocution.
Four others suffered injuries and are undergoing treatment at a local hospital.
According to Uppal police, the incident took place around 12 am when the devotees — most of them from the local Yadav Sangham — joined the procession to pull Lord Krishna's chariot amid light rainfall. This is a two-decade-old custom organised by the community a day after the festival. Cops said just about 20 metres away from the culmination point, the chariot touched a cable wire hanging loose from a 11 kv high-tension powerline.
Nine people, holding the metal body of the chariot, suffered severe shocks. Five of them died on the spot.
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The deceased have been identified as Krishna Yadav (23) a resident of Old Ramanthapur, Rajender Reddy (48) and Rudra Vikas (39) from Hubsiguda, and Srikanth Reddy (35) and Suresh Yadav (34) from Ramanthapur. Four others — Srinivasulu, Ganesh, Ravi, and Mahesh — are being treated for burns. Their condition is said to be stable.
Following protests by the Yadav community members and a complaint from the families of the deceased, Uppal police filed a case under Section 194 (suspicious death) of the BNSS. Alleging negligence, locals also demanded action against officials of the electricity department.
"The procession started around 10.30 pm on Sunday from the Yadav Sangham building. The chariot was to go around the area for two hours before returning to the same spot.
There were close to 500 people when the yatra started," said Krishna Kumar, a resident of Old Ramanthapur, who participated in the event. According to him, the victims started to manually push the chariot as the jeep that was hired for the job ran out of diesel.
"Since this happened only a few metres away from the Sangham building, the devotees volunteered to detach the chariot from the jeep and manually drag it holding the bar of the chariot," he told TOI.
Eyewitnesses said the victims almost immediately fell to the ground unconscious after the chariot touched the live wire. While there were some more people, including the priest, on the chariot, they escaped unhurt.
"The locals tried to administer CPR to the victims, but to no avail. They shifted the injured to a nearby hospital," said S Chakrapani, ACP, Uppal division.
Rs 5 lakh ex gratia
IT minister D Sridhar Babu said an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh will be provided to each of the bereaved families. Calling the incident as tragic and unfortunate, the minister said the medical expenses of the injured will be borne by the govt. Earlier in the day, chairman and managing director of TGSPDCL, Musharraf Ali Faruqui, visited the accident spot and said he will decide on the next steps after discussing the matter with deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka.
"Will take a decision on ordering an inquiry and steps to be taken to prevent such incidents," he added.
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