Two BESCOM officials held for transformer blast case granted bail

The two BESCOM officials who were held for a transformer blast in Bengaluru that killed father and daughter duo, were granted bail.

Bengaluru police had arrested two engineers of the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) on Monday, days after an electric transformer exploded, killing a man and his daughter.

A transformer exploded in Bengaluru, killing a teenager and her father.  (HT PHOTO)

The accused have been identified as Dinesh, an Assistant Engineer (AE) and Mahantesh, a Junior Engineer (JE). However, it is being said that the police released them on station bail by Monday evening.

According to reports, local residents had lodged a complaint with BESCOM regarding oil leakage from the electric transformer, but the staff allegedly turned a blind eye resulting in the unfortunate accident.

Reports said police investigation has shown gross negligence on the part of the officers as being the main reason behind the tragedy. If the complaint was taken seriously and addressed, the tragedy could have been avoided, police officials said.

The victims were Shivaraj, 55 years old and his 19-year-old daughter Chaitanya. They were both burnt to death while riding a scooter as the electric transformer exploded. The father and daughter were supposedly returning home after booking a convention centre for Chaitanya's engagement ceremony, scheduled for March 27.

The father is said to have died a few hours after being admitted to the hospital while his daughter succumbed to her burn injuries the next day. Police told reporters that Shivaraj had slowed down the scooter to cross a road hump at the time of the blast.

Oil from the electric transformer reportedly sprayed over the victims after the blast and both sustained fatal burn injuries, with the impact of the blast being such that the scooter on which the victims were travelling also charred black.