Chased by dogs, AC mechanic falls from roof, dies

Police arrest owner of the dogs, charge him with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

A college student who worked a part time AC mechanic died after a fall from a fifth floor roof of a building on Tuesday night when two pet dogs chased him.

Alsatians are known to be guard dogs and are popular as pets. (HT Photo)

The incident took place at Thakurpukur on the southern fringes of Kolkata.

Gaurav Purkait, 18, died on the spot. He was declared ‘brought dead’ when rushed to a local hospital.

Police arrested Sumit Bhattacharya, the owner of the dogs, and charged him with culpable homicide (IPC section 304) not amounting to murder. Bhattacharya is a teacher in an English medium in Alipore.

Read: Kerala: 65-year-old woman dies after being attacked by stray dogs

Police also initiated a case against Tapas Kumar Ghoshal for appointing Gaurav Purkait and Tarun Purkait for the AC repairing job. He was charged with section 374 of IPC (unlawful compulsory labour).

Two full grown Alsatians, Kuttush and Miki, lunged at Purkait who was standing on a cornice and repairing an AC machine. Though the wall of the roof separated the animals and Purkait, he was taken aback at the loud bark and toppled from the cornice.

Bhattacharya took the dogs to the rooftop for a walk at night. Sniffing a man on the other side of the wall, the dogs charged at Purkait.

Though the owner was holding on to the leash, the dogs freed themselves and ran towards the wall.

Read: When a pet dog attacked neighbour: 5-yr-old boy bitten on face, head in Amritsar

CCTV footage showed a body falling to the ground with a thud.

“I asked Bhattcharya not to go back from the roof as Purkait was working on the cornice. But he could not hold on to the dogs that were fully grown,” said Tarun Purkait, another youth who had accompanied Purkait to the roof.

Tarun Purkait told the media that taken aback at the sudden turn of events, Bhattacharya immediately went back to his flat with the two dogs.

Tarun and Gaurav Purkait are residents of Rasakunja in Bishnupur in South 24 Parganas. The police complaint was lodged by Uttam Purkait, the uncle of the victim.