Man found dead in open manhole in Tirupur

TIRUPUR: A 24-year-old

man

was found dead inside an

open manhole

of the drainage system under construction at

VRB Nagar

in

Tirupur

on Monday.


The deceased has been identified as N Boopathy of Salem, a wall painter, who was staying in a rented house at Arivozhi Nagar in Mannarai.

Locals found the body, with a leg sticking out of the manhole, on Monday morning. A team from the Tirupur north police station shifted it to the Tirupur Government Medical College and Hospital for postmortem. The police registered a case under Section 174 CrPC (unnatural death).

The police believe Boopathy was drunk and stumbled into the manhole. “Postmortem report will reveal the actual cause of the death,” an officer said.

Meanwhile, tension prevailed in the area after locals gathered there and urged corporation authorities to speed up the drainage work and cover all manholes and pits.

Strict action should be taken against the contractor, said M Thangavel, founder of NGO Vizhuthugal.

Adequate compensation should be provided to Boopathy’s family, said Jayakrishnan, a resident of VRB Nagar.

The civic body will seek a report from the contractor and the project consultant, and take steps to prevent such incidents, said corporation commissioner Kranti Kumar Pati. “According to the contractor, it is not an open public road. The victim was probably drunk,” he said.

The corporation would soon conduct a survey of all construction sites, the official added.