NEW DELHI: The showers may have provided relief from the scorching heat, but they proved to be fatal for two men and a nine-year-old boy on Monday. While one man and the boy drowned, the second man was electrocuted.
In the first incident that took place in southeast Delhi’s Sarita Vihar, police received information around 6am that a security guard had died due to electrocution. The deceased was identified as Hemant Kuntal (19). There were eight goats lying dead along with him, whom he had been trying to rescue.
“During preliminary inquiry, it was found that the goats were purchased by residents of the society for sacrifice (qurbani) on the occasion of Bakrid. The guard was deputed since Sunday to take care of the goats, which were kept in a temporary shed. Due to rain last night, the goats got electrocuted. When the guard tried to rescue them, even he died,” said Meena.
A 27-year-old man, identified as Ravi Chautala, drowned while taking selfies near the flooded railway bridge underpass in Pul Prahladpur. He worked at an export house in Okhla. Locals told police he went into the water near the underpass, which had been closed by police, to shoot a video and click photos. However, he got trapped and died before he could be rescued. Delhi Traffic Police had shut vehicular movement there due to waterlogging. They had even tweeted about it from their official Twitter handle.
At 1.37pm, cops at Pul Prahladpur police station were informed that a man had drowned near the railway underpass. A police team, fire brigade and disaster management authority personnel soon reached there to carry out a rescue operation. After an hour-long search, the rescuers pulled out Chautala. He was rushed to a hospital where the doctors declared him dead. His body was sent for autopsy to All India Institute of Medical Sciences and his family members were informed about the incident.
Deputy commissioner of police (Southeast) RP Meena said Chautala was a resident of Gautampuri in Jaitpur. “Local inquiry revealed that the man had gone deep into the water to take a selfie or shoot a video. Inquest proceedings are being conducted,” he added. Police said the man was survived by his parents, wife, two brothers and three sisters. He was married and had a 10-month-old daughter.
In the afternoon, it was reported to police that a nine-year-old boy, who had gone to the fields to relieve himself, fell and drowned in an overflowing drain in outer Delhi’s Narela Industrial Area.
Police got a call about the incident around 1.30pm. The victim was later identified as Govind. His father told the cops that his son had gone to relieve himself in the morning. A neighbour later informed him that his son had drowned in the drain, which was flooded with rainwater. By the time the boy was pulled out and rushed to a hospital, he had passed away.
