40-year-old man electrocuted after rainwater enters house in northwest Delhi

The victim, Sanjay Kumar, a labourer, lived with his parents, two brothers, his wife and their two sons at a two-storey house in Agar Nagar

A 40-year-old man was electrocuted when he came in contact with rainwater that had entered his house and met an open circuit lying on the floor, in Kirari in northwest Delhi on Thursday evening, police said on Friday. This is the twelfth reported case of electrocution due to rain this monsoon, the fourth reported rain-related death in Kirari in the last two weeks, and the second such case in Agar Nagar.

Sanjay Kumar (HT Photo)

The victim, Sanjay Kumar, a labourer, lived with his parents, two brothers, his wife and their two sons at a two-storey house in Agar Nagar. The incident took place at 7pm when the victim entered his house where the ground floor was filled knee-deep with rainwater, after which his family called the police.

“After receiving the call the local police team immediately reached the spot and found Kumar unconscious on the floor. They took him to a hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. We conducted an inquiry and found that he died of an electric shock as rainwater had entered his house and come in contact with an electric circuit,” said additional deputy commissioner of police (Rohini) Pankaj Kumar.

Police said that Kumar’s body was taken for a post-mortem and a report is awaited. A case under Section 106 (causing death by negligence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered.

Anil Kumar, Kumar’s younger brother, said, “Our mother, Angoori Devi, was on the first floor. When bhaiya came home, there was knee-deep water in the house. When he entered the house, he immediately screamed. Our mother tried coming downstairs but it took her 5-7 minutes. When she reached downstairs, she saw his body shaking in the water. She called us…”

The family members asked neighbours to cut the power supply and then pulled out Kumar. He had died by then, they said.

Several locals said that a major reason for the drowning and electrocution deaths in the area is because it is “low-lying” and there are exposed wires and frequent waterlogging here.

“It took bhaiya more than 25 years to build a house in Delhi. We have always lived here. Our house is only seven years old. When we built it, it wasn’t this low (level of the house). But the local authorities here built roads and the house is on a low level now. What was bhaiya’s fault? He put in all his savings to build this home. Luckily, our children were not here when the incident occurred. We would have lost more lives…” Anil added.

A day after the incident, Kumars’ house was still filled with rainwater.

QUOTE FROM ANOTHER LOCAL.

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