Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday termed the death of a Delhi youth who fell into a Jal Board pit as “murder, not an accident”.
Calling the incident a symptom of an “epidemic of greed and carelessness”, Rahul said the real culprit was not the road but “irresponsible power”, pointing to the absence of resignations, punishment or any sense of accountability after such deaths.
In a post on X, Rahul said the death of Kamal mirrored a series of avoidable tragedies across the country.
Citing toxic water in Indore, a fatal road cave-in in Noida, collapsing bridges, train accidents and choking pollution, he wrote: “#TINA — There Is No Accountability. Until there is accountability, someone will keep becoming the next victim.”
The Congress leader’s remarks echoed his criticism last month after the death of 27-year-old software engineer Yuvraj Mehta in Noida, whose car fell into a water-filled pit near a construction site.
Mehta died after pleading for help for nearly two hours, with Rahul then saying India’s urban crisis was not about lack of money or technology, but about indifference and corruption.
The Delhi Police have registered an FIR under Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) against the contractor and concerned officials of the Delhi Jal Board after the accident of Kamal, a resident of Kailashpuri, who worked at a call centre for a private bank.
Police said they received information about the accident around 7 am and found Kamal and his motorcycle inside the pit dug for construction work.
The cops said investigations are ongoing to determine whether safety norms were violated and to fix responsibility for the unguarded pit.
Kamal’s family has accused the Delhi Jal Board of negligence and alleged foul play in his death.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal slammed the BJP-led Delhi government over a motorcyclist's death, alleging it was not an accident but a "murder".
In a post on X, the former Delhi chief minister alleged that the BJP learnt nothing from the incident in Noida where a young software engineer died after drowning in a waterlogged plot last month.
"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," Kejriwal charged.
The Urban Development Minister Delhi government, Ashish Sood will conduct a joint inspection of the Janakpuri site on Saturday morning.
Senior officials from the Public Works Department, Delhi Jal Board, Traffic Police, Revenue Department and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi are likely to accompany the minister.