Hyderabad: A four-year-old girl playing outside her home died after a parapet wall fell on her in Kukatpally on Saturday. Police said Varalakshmi died on the spot, while three other kids playing along with her escaped. A case for causing death due to negligence was registered against the house owner. GHMC Officials had issued notices to the house owner a week ago when he started works in the area. According to the police, Pulikanti Varalakshmi alias Ammulu was the only daughter of Sailu and Kavitha, a migrant family from Medak district. They were living in a rented house in Survey number 57 in Mahankali Nagar in Kukatpally police station limits.
On Saturday morning, Ammulu along with three others were playing in front of their house. Construction works were going on in a neighbouring house owned by John Anthony, a driver in JNTU. Before starting the house construction, he built a wall and started filling mud to raise the ground’s height. On Saturday, while the mud filling was going on, the three-feet-tall wall could not bear the load of the mud and collapsed.
“The bricks fell to the back where three kids were playing. A few bri-cks fell on Ammulu. She suffered a serious injury on the head neck and other body parts, and died on the spot.” Kukatpally Inspector K Purushotham said. The other two kids escaped as they were playing at a distance from the wall. Based on a complaint from Ammulu’s father, police registered a case against house owner John under section 304-A of IPC (causing death due to negligence) for not taking proper precautions during the construction.
GHMC Officials said that John dug up deep trenches in the area to construct pillars. The JCB machines which excavated the mud dumped it near the wall. Since the wall was weak, it could not bear the weight of the mud and collapsed. “A notice was issued to the owner when he started works a week ago. He stopped it, but started the works again on Saturday.” GHMC Kukatpally divisional commissioner B Ravindra Kumar said. The house owner is absconding. The case is under investigation.
