41-year-old electrocuted, Karnataka Electricity Board official attacked

Bengaluru: A 41-year-old Karnataka Electricity Board (KEB) contract employee got electrocuted while working on a pole at the Channaveerenahalli in Doddabelavangala on Thursday afternoon. The deceased, Nagesh, a resident of Melkote, was one among the 10 workers carrying out maintenance work on the 11 KV line in the village.

According to the police, it was sheer negligence on the part of KEB, which had not given line clearance for the work at the area. Around 2.15 pm, Nagesh was perched on one of the poles and one of his legs accidentally came in contact with a live wire. He got electrocuted and fell. Other panic stricken workers climbed down the poles in a hurry and one of them got injured.

Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) Gangaraju rushed to the spot to assess the situation and the police were also informed, who there around 2.30 pm. Angry villagers staged a protest against KEB officials.

“Around 600 locals gheraoed the officials. As the police personnel were outnumbered, things went out of hand,” said a senior police officer. A youth, identified as Anil Kumar, a resident of Seegehalli, assaulted Gangaraju. He was whisked away by the police to Doddaballapur government hospital.

The crowd did not allow the body of Nagesh to be moved and demanded that Nagesh’s kin should be compensated. Later the policemen called for backup and used force to disperse the crowd. The body was shifted to the hospital for post-mortem. Anil Kumar was secured by the police for questioning.