9 months on, 2 MSEDCL staffers, 4 others booked for 6-yr-old’s electrocution

The incident occurred on October 29, in Jayshastri Nagar, Mulund Colony, when the victim, Arnav Bhandari, stepped outside his home following his pet cat and came in contact with an exposed electrical wire

MUMBAI: Nearly nine months after a six-year-old boy was electrocuted outside his residence in Mulund West, the Mulund police on Wednesday booked six people, including two senior officers of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) for causing death by negligence.

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The incident occurred on October 29, in Jayshastri Nagar, Mulund Colony, when the victim, Arnav Bhandari, stepped outside his home following his pet cat and came in contact with an exposed electrical wire.

“Arnav screamed as soon as he came in touch with the live wire and then fell silent within a few seconds. His father and 70-year-old grandmother both rushed outside the house and noticed him lying on the ground. They rushed him to Mulund General Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival,” said a police officer.

The police had registered an accidental death report following the incident based on a complaint by the victim’s father.

“During investigation, we found that MSECDL employees did not provide proper earthing and left the cable wire exposed on the ground, which caused the death of the child,” said the police officer.

Accordingly, an FIR has now been registered against Gokul Sudhakar Pawar, Rajendra Arvind Salve, Sachin Mahadev Bodade, Sopan Prahlad Bodade, Arjun Mahadev Bodade and Janabai Daulat Sonawane. Police officials said Pawar was posted as an assistant engineer with the MSEDCL sub-division office at Mulund Colony while Salve worked as a senior electrician. The remaining four accused are local residents who had taken illegal electric connections.

The deceased’s boy’s father Nilesh Bhandari welcomed the registration of an FIR after nearly nine months but said they had not been able to overcome the tragedy yet.

“We are all still in shock. My wife and mother could not live in the earlier house as it constantly reminded them of Arnav. So, I have rented another house a kilometer away,” he said.