E-Paper
Another body found in B’luru; more rain likely
Lokesh, who worked as a housekeeping staff in a Bengaluru company, was found dead in a drain in Byatarayanapura, about 12 km away from the accident site, said officials.
The toll due to heavy rainfall across Bengaluru has risen to two within 24 hours after the police recovered the body of a 31-year-old man, who died allegedly after falling into an open stormwater drain in the city, police said on Monday.
On Sunday evening, a 23-year-old Infosys staffer, identified as Bhanu Rekha, died after her car got stuck in neck-deep waters at an underpass, said police.
Hours later, police recovered another body.
Lokesh, who worked as a housekeeping staff in a Bengaluru company, was found dead in a drain in Byatarayanapura, about 12 km away from the accident site, after a one-and-a-half hour search operation, said officials.
“Local residents had warned the man against walking on the waterlogged road, but he did not pay heed to them... he wanted to check the depth of water and fell into the drain in the process. We suspect Lokesh was in an inebriated state,” a police inspector at KP Agrahara police station said.
On Monday, Halasuru Gate Police registered an FIR under Section 304 (A) (death by negligence) of the IPC into Bhanu Rekha’s death based on a complaint filed by her family member, Batula Sandeep. The case was registered against engineers of Bengaluru civic agency and the car driver who took the vehicle into the flooded underpass in the city, said police.
Chief minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday visited Rekha’s family and announced ₹5lakh ex-gratia to the family. Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar on Monday said that he has sought a report on all the underpasses in the state. “We have ordered for a report on all the underpasses in the state including the 18 underpasses in Bengaluru,” he said.
Meanwhile, former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai accused civic agency Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike officials of negligence in taking up precautionary measures against heavy rains. “The incident took place due to negligence of BBMP officials,” he said. As per the India Meteorological Department, Bengaluru, the city will continue to receive rain for next few days.
