A 13-year-old was electrocuted after he touched a lamp post in Narkeldanga on Saturday evening while on his way back home from tuition.
Witnesses said Mohammad Farzan slumped immediately after he touched the post on Raja Raj Narayan Street that had a pool of water at its base.
“The boy was taken to the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital where he was declared brought dead. The family members took him to a nursing home and then to Apollo Hospital for confirmation,” said Priyabrata Roy, deputy commissioner of
police of the eastern suburban division.
Eyewitnesses have told the police that the incident took place around 6.30pm.
A short spell of rain in the evening had just stopped and people had started stepping out on the streets in the crowded locality.
Some bystanders who noticed Farzan lying in water near the lamp post rushed with bamboo sticks and tried to dissociate him from the lamp post but failed.
By the time he was rushed to the Calcutta Medical College, Farzan had breathed his last.
The police said Farzan was trying to negotiate the lamp post on his right while walking around a tap that brings water to the locality. He somehow slipped and fell in the water and happened to touch the lamp post when he was electrocuted, the police said.
The death comes within six days of a similar incident in Haridevpur where 11-year-old Nitish Yadav was electrocuted after he touched a lamp post in Paschim Putiari on the southern suburbs. Nitish was on his way to meet his teacher.
In the aftermath of the incident, mayor Firhad Ha-kim had ordered a safety inspection of all poles in Kolkata.
Hakim had instructed the lighting department to inspect street poles and fix issues that they may come across.
Saturday’s tragedy shows not much has changed.
Kolkata’s roads are dangerous, especially during the rainy season.
Many people have been electrocuted on the city’s roads over the past few years because of loosely hanging wires.
The blame game resumed immediately on Saturday.
“It’s not a lamp post but a post that belongs to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. The post served to distribute electric cables in different directions from one point,” said Ayan Chakrabarty, the local ward councillor.
“The CESC used to maintain the pole. It is an unfortunate incident,” Chakrabarty said.
The power utility company denied being in charge of maintaining the pole.
“Our cables are placed underground and there is no scope for electrocution due to our cables on any pole,” said a CESC spokesperson.
“If there has been an electrocution it is not due to CESC. We don’t maintain poles,” the spokesperson said.
A student of Class VIII of Momin High School, Farzan was the eldest of the two brothers, residents of the area said.
Farzan’s father, Mohammad Fakruddin, had returned from Dubai a week back and was behind his son when Saturday’s incident took place. He had gone to fetch Farzan from his tuition class and was trailing behind when the boy fell and got electrocuted.
The police have started a case of unnatural death into the incident.
Late at night, police officers said they were awaiting the post-mortem report of the teenager.
The spot has been cordoned off and a police picket has been posted in the locality.
Engineers from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s lighting department reached the area in the evening and cordoned off the lamp post to prevent further mishaps.
