Man electrocuted to death on treadmill at Rohini gym

The gym owner, Anubhav Duggal, was arrested around on Wednesday from Rohini, said police, adding that a first information report (FIR) was registered

A 24-year-old man was electrocuted to death on a treadmill in a gym in northwest Delhi’s Rohini, police said on Thursday, after arresting the owner of the fitness centre.

Members of the gym said they had made several complaints to the gym management about the faulty treadmill. (HT Photo)

The victim, Saksham Pruthi, was working out at the gym in Rohini’s Sector 15 around 7.15am on Tuesday, when he sat down on the treadmill and collapsed instantly, said police.

The gym owner, Anubhav Duggal, was arrested around on Wednesday from Rohini, said police, adding that a first information report (FIR) was registered under the Indian Penal Code’s sections 287 and 304A at the KN Katju Marg police station in Rohini. He was granted bail by a local court hours later.

A man who tried to help the victim also collapsed on the spot, said witnesses, but added that he came round soon after and was unhurt.

Members of the gym said they had made several complaints to the gym management about the faulty treadmill, claiming that several people suffered shocks over the past few weeks. However, all of these concerns went unheeded, they said.

“I was just a few steps away and tried to hold his hand and lift him up, but I was jolted and blacked out instantly,” said Keshav Narang, the prime witness in the case, on whose complaint the FIR was registered.

Around 10 people who were in the gym, called Gymplex Fitness Zone, then disconnected the power and tried to help Narang up. Some even tried administering CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) to revive him.

“When he did not respond, we took him to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival,” added Narang.

Some witnesses also said that the gym, located at the basement, was waterlogged during the rain last week, which may have compounded the problem.

Pruthi worked with a start-up in Gurugram and lived in Rohini’s Sector 15. He is survived by his parents, Mahesh Kumar and Kiran Purthi, and sister Niyati, all of whom live in Sector 19.

Calls and text messages to the fitness centre’s official helpline received no response.

Deputy commissioner of police (Rohini) Guriqbal Singh Sidhu said the police were informed about the death by the Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital in Rohini on Tuesday morning.

“The post-mortem examination was conducted at the hospital and a case was registered on the basis of the medico-legal certificate (MLC) and autopsy. The gym owner was arrested during the probe and further inquiries are being made,” said Sidhu.

Pruthi’s family said he was a regular at the gym for three months.

He went there in the morning before leaving for work. On Tuesday around 8am, I received a call, informing me that Saksham had fainted while working out. I went to the hospital and learnt that he died of electrocution,” said Saksham’s father Mahesh Kumar, who runs a bakery business.

His family and members of the gym accused the fitness centre of negligence and said their laxity was responsible for Pruthi’s death.

“We had been complaining about the electrical fault in the treadmill for a long time and requested the trainers and the gym owner to get it repaired. But our requests fell on deaf ears. The tragedy was waiting to happen,” said Narang.

The victim’s cousin said Duggal sought to pass the death off as an incident of cardiac arrest (where was this?).

“He cited the deaths of some Bollywood celebrities who suffered heart attacks recently. He did that despite people who saw my cousin dying telling doctors and police at the hospital that my cousin was electrocuted. There were burns on my cousin’s legs and back,” said Mukul Pruthi, demanding that Duggal’s bail be cancelled and that he be booked under more stringent IPC sections.

Sidhu, however, said they had not received any complaints about the faulty equipment either before or after Pruthi’s death.

“The treadmill was seized and will be inspected by forensic experts to pinpoint the exact fault that led to the electrocution,” he added.

Some gym operators HT spoke to underlined that the incident was extremely rare and that poor maintenance or faulty power supply may be to blame for the fatality.

“A treadmill generally needs 110 to 150 amperes of power supply to function. As a rule, the treadmill is always connected with a stabilizer to control the flow of electric current in the equipment. Even if there is a fault in the treadmill, the user will only receive a mild electric shock. If someone dies, it means the equipment was directly connected with the main power line due to which flow of current was not regulated,” said a gym owner from south Delhi who asked not to be named.