Greyhounds constable rams electric pole during rain, dies

HYDERABAD: A 40-year-old constable with the Greyhounds counter-insurgency squad was electrocuted when his bike skidded on the road during an intense rainstorm and hit a footpath near an electric pole in Jubilee Hills on Sunday night.

The incident took place around 10 pm on Sunday, when the victim, identified as Solem Veera Swamy, was heading from a media channel office towards NTR Bhavan, the police said.

Narsing Rao, a local who runs a ‘pan’ shop near the spot, said he witnessed the two-wheeler rider skidding on a curve and hitting the footpath. “It was raining heavily and a passerby called the police,” he said.

“Upon receiving a call, we found Veera Swamy on the footpath close to a pole. We rushed him to a private hospital in the vicinity in an ambulance, where the doctor declared him dead due to electrocution,” said Jubilee Hills inspector S. Rajasekhar Reddy.

Veera Swamy, a 2000 batch anti-Naxal squad member, was going to meet a friend at Yousufguda Police Lines when the incident took place, his batchmate Venu said. Swamy was a native of Puttala Bhupathi in Gangaram mandal of Mahbubabad district.

He is survived by his wife Venkatramana, and two children, S. Greeshina, 15, and S. Rohit, 13, according to his father Solem Papiah. “He married 17 years ago and lived in Gandipet,” he said.

N. Narsinga Rao, Jubilee Hills sub-inspector, who is the investigating officer in the case, said: “The doctor confirmed that he died due to electrocution. A case under Section 304 (a) (death due to negligence) has been registered and the victim's body has been shifted to Osmania General Hospital for a post-mortem examination.”