Delhi Police ask Railways for report on 35-year-old’s death due to electrocution

According to police officials, the railways is responsible for ‘everything within the premises of the New Delhi Railway station’

After a 35-year-old private school teacher was electrocuted at the New Delhi Railway Station on Sunday, police and railway officials were yet to find out the exact cause, and the agency responsible for the negligence which led to the tragedy.

Workers repair an open electric circuit breaker box at New Delhi Railway station parking area on Monday. (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

While investigating officers said that insulation failure led to the incident, on Monday, Delhi Police wrote to Delhi’s Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), seeking details and information about the agencies and individuals responsible for maintaining the electric poles and wires at the station premises, especially at the taxi parking area where the woman, Sakshi Ahuja, died.

According to police officials, the railways is responsible for “everything” within the premises of the New Delhi Railway station.

“Be it electric police or signage poles, everything that is within the premises of the New Delhi Railway station comes under the railways. We have written to the DRM and asked for complete details about what led to the tragic death of the woman and whose fault and negligence led to the tragedy. We have learnt that the railways have initiated an internal inquiry into the death. We have also asked for the inquiry report,” said a police officer, associated with the probe, asking not to be named. Railway officials said that their inquiry was underway.

Ahuja, who lived in east Delhi’s Preet Vihar, was on Sunday at the taxi parking lot on the Paharganj side of the station and was hurrying to catch a train to Chandigarh along with her two children, parents, and two siblings. The incident occurred when she stepped off a concrete divider onto a waterlogged stretch near a light pole with an open junction box, close to exit gate number 1. Eyewitnesses said that as soon as Ahuja stepped on to the road, she suffered an electric shock and screamed before collapsing in the rainwater. She remained stuck for nearly 25 minutes despite several efforts undertaken by taxi drivers and passersby to rescue her.

On Monday, when HT visited the spot, junction boxes of all street lamps and two high-mast lights were covered except one — it was not known which agency sprang into action.

Police said Sunday’s tragedy took place due to insulation failure in a recently laid wiring used for passing electric flow in the signage installed at the taxi parking lot, initial probe has found. “Even as we have identified the fault, we need the forensic experts’ reports to corroborate and confirm it. Their reports are still awaited,” a senior police officer said, asking not to be named.

Deputy commissioner of police (railways) Apoorva Gupta said that they have also approached the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), a central government department, for an “independent inspection and audit” of the spot.

“We are waiting for an official response from CEA. Our idea is to get an audit conducted by an independent agency. We are also waiting for the railways’ inquiry report on the incident,” said DCP Gupta.

Northern Railway’s chief public relation officer (CPRO) Deepak Kumar said that their inquiry into the electrocution incident was in progress, and it will be completed soon. “Through the inquiry, we want to ascertain where the fault was and who was responsible for it. The guilty person will be punished. We have also launched a safety audit to ensure such incidents are not repeated,” added Kumar.

HT visits incident spot

When HT did a spot check on Sunday, hours after the electrocution incident, the junction box of two of the three high-mast lights and many street lamps were open and wires were dangling outside. The boxes of some of the drainage points in the passengers’ arrival and departure areas and parking lots were covered with garbage, causing waterlogging. The cleaning work of the drainage points, however, started on Sunday itself.

On Monday , HT again visited the area, and found that the premises were cleaned and were free from garbage, while bleaching powder was also sprayed around all the raised platforms and dividers. Except for one electric pole at Exit Gate Number-2, the junction box of all street lamps and two high-mast lights were covered, either by its original iron plate or using plastic sheets, which seemed like a temporary arrangement.

A man was seen standing and leaning against the electric pole and his one hand was close to the open junction box having many wires. The man moved away as soon as HT clicked his photograph.

The box of high-mast light near Exit Gate number 1, where Ahuja died of electrocution was still open. Police officers said it was done for investigation purposes. The area around the incident spot was, however, heavily barricaded and two security staffers were found deployed there to ensure nobody went close to it.