750-kg pitch roller crushes 8-year-old at Gurugram cricket academy, was left unsupervised

The incident occurred after children climbed onto the pitch roller and one of them accidentally switched on the miniature circuit breaker, causing it to move

An eight-year-old boy was killed after he was crushed under a pitch roller that was left unsupervised and accidentally switched on by children at a cricket training academy in IMT Manesar, police said on Friday.

Pitch roller in the cricket training academy in IMT Manesar where an eight-year-old boy was killed after being crushed (HT Photo)

Police identified the victim as Akash Kumar, whose family hails from Bihar’s Nalanda district. His parents live Gurugram with their seven children, police said.

A senior police officer said Akash, his elder brother Neil and two other children were playing inside the academy when the accident took place around 1pm.

Children allegedly switched on 750-kg roller

According to police, the children climbed onto the roller, which weighed around 750kg and was used to flatten the practice pitches and ground.

“Accidentally, one of the children managed to switch on the miniature circuit breaker which started the roller. No one else was at the spot at that time to supervise the equipment,” an officer privy of the case details said.

Family learnt of boy’s death nearly an hour later

Vikash Kumar, Akash’s maternal cousin, said Neil informed the family about the incident but initially told them that his brother had been injured. “At the time, we didn’t realise the gravity of the situation and started looking for him at the cricket academy. However, some players who reached the academy at that time spotted Akash’s crushed body lying on the ground and alerted everyone. They managed to arrange a vehicle and rushed him to a nearby private hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival,” Kumar said.

The family learnt about the severity of the incident and Akash’s death nearly an hour after the accident, Kumar said. “He had probably kept lying at the spot for several minutes before someone spotted him,” he added.

Kumar said the family does not wish to press charges against anyone. “It was a freak accident,” he said.

Sandeep Turan, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said the family had not suspected foul play or negligence and had submitted a written statement at the Kherki Daula police station. “Since no foul play or negligence was suspected by the family members, an inquiry under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) was carried out on their written statement,” he said.

The body was handed over to the family after an autopsy on Friday, Turan added.