Bengaluru: Tree falls, kills police officer’s father

BENGALURU: An 80-year-old man was crushed to death and several vehicles were damaged after a huge tree got uprooted in CAR police quarters in Adugodi police limits on Wednesday evening. A team of rescue officials from the fire force department and the BBMP rushed to the spot.

The tree in the M Block of the CAR quarters uprooted around 5.15 pm. The police identified the deceased as Puttarangappa, father of state intelligence inspector Dharneshappa.

Puttarangappa was heading to a nearby market to buy provisions when the incident took place. A resident of M Block saw Puttarangappa caught under the tree, rushed to the Adugodi police station and informed the station house inspector, who along with a few policemen rushed to the spot.

But it took another 40 minutes for the police, fire department and BBMP officials to pull out Mr Puttarangappa, who was dead by then. He was rushed to St John’s Hospital, where he was declared dead.

A BBMP officer said that the tree fell as it was old and its trunk had rotted from inside. The campus that spreads over 100 acres has over 20,000 trees. “This was among the 30 trees identified by BBMP for cutting down.

But as there were some issues regarding getting workers for the job, there was a delay in cutting it down. If it had been removed on time, a life could have been saved,” a senior police officer said.