A 25-year-old bank employee was killed after his motorcycle plunged into an open 20-foot-deep construction pit dug by the Delhi Jal Board in Janakpuri on Thursday night, triggering outrage over poor civic safety measures and prompting the Opposition to term the incident a “murder”.
On January 16, a 27-year-old software engineer, Yuvraj Mehta, died after his car fell into an unfenced waterlogged pit next to a construction site in Noida.
Delhi police said Kamal Dhyani and his motorcycle were found inside the pit on Friday morning. Kamal used to work at the call centre of a private bank and was returning home from office when the incident took place.
A photo of the body lying next to an Apache bike at the bottom of the pit has gone viral on social media. The man in the picture is seen wearing a helmet, a riding jacket and gloves.
According to family members, Kamal had called his twin brother Karan on his way home in West Delhi’s Vikaspuri on Thursday night to inform him that he would arrive within 10 minutes.
“When Kamal did not return home and his phone became unreachable, we spent the entire night looking for him and visited six police stations. We did not get any assistance from the cops as they failed to give us any concrete information about his whereabouts,” Karan said.
He said the police called them around 7am on Friday and informed them about Kamal’s death.
The incident has once again raised questions over safety measures, barricading and supervision at construction sites.
Initial findings indicated that Kamal lost control of his bike, plunged into the pit and suffered fatal injuries. Locals said the pit was unmarked and unfenced at the time of
the accident.
The victim’s family accused the departments concerned of criminal negligence and demanded exemplary action against those responsible.
A senior Delhi police officer said the police control room received a call around 7am about a man and a motorcycle lying inside the pit on Joginder Singh Marg. The fire department team rushed to the scene and pulled the man and his bike out. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
According to the police, Kamal’s family approached the Vikaspuri police station around 12.30am on Friday after he did not return home and stopped responding to calls. The family informed the police that he was on his way home on a motorcycle. They later also contacted the nearby Janakpuri police station for help.
“Janakpuri police tracked Kamal’s mobile phone location to the Janakpuri district centre. Head constable Ramkesh searched for Kamal along with his brother till early morning. However, he could not be found. The body was found in the pit later in the morning,” the official said.
The Delhi government has initiated an investigation into the incident and suspended three Delhi Jal Board engineers as part of disciplinary action following a preliminary review of the incident.
The police said a probe was underway and it was being examined whether adequate barricades, warning signs and lighting were in place at the location, especially at night.
In a post on X, AAP national convener and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal termed Kamal’s death a “murder”.
“This is not an accident, but murder. The BJP has learned nothing even from the Noida incident. Extreme negligence and an utterly irresponsible attitude have now become the hallmark of BJP governments, and it is the common people who are paying the price for it,” he posted.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the death was “murder”, not an accident.
“The epidemic of greed and negligence plaguing India has claimed another young life today. A son, a dream, the entire world of his parents — all shattered in a flash,” he said in a post on X in Hindi.
Rahul said Kamal’s death mirrored a series of avoidable tragedies across the country, citing toxic drinking water in Indore, a fatal road cave-in in Noida which killed a youth, collapsing bridges, train accidents and choking pollution. “#TINA — There Is No Accountability. Until there is accountability, someone will keep becoming the next victim,” he added.