HYDERABAD: The death toll in kite flying-related incidents has reached nine with six more deaths reported from Masab Tank, Madhuranagar, Katedan and Kushaiguda in Hyderabad, Jogipet and Sangareddy in the state. An eight-year-old boy, an 11-year-old boy, and a 23-year-old car driver were victims of fatal falls at Cherlapally, Masab Tank and Madhuranagar respectively.
In Katedan, Jogipet and Sangareddy, a 13-year-old boy and two men were electrocuted. Class III student Prince Runa, son of Pradeep Runa, a migrant worker from Bihar, was found dead in an open place on Cherlapally Railway Station road on Tuesday. He went missing on Monday afternoon and his family lodged a complaint with Kushaiguda police. This afternoon, shepherds noticed his body and alerted cops. “He suffered a head injury.
Locals said they saw the boy looking for kites and a woman gave a kite to him. We suspect that Prince might have climbed a tree and fell on a wall below while trying to retrieve kite,” Kushaiguda ACP S Ravinder said. Body of Salman, a student from Khaja Nagar, was found in a five-storeyed under-construction building near his house on Monday afternoon.
“The boy fell on third floor from terrace while flying kites,” Masab Tank inspector S Koteswar Rao said. Salman was not to be seen after leaving house on Sunday morning to fly kites. Police registered a kidnap case following his mother’s complaint on Sunday night. Cabbie Kapil Dev died when he accidentally fell from the third floor of a building in Rahmat Nagar while flying kites on Monday.
His brother Chowhan Sridev, who works in a private hospital, lodged a complaint that he received a call from Kapil’s friend Sanjay, stating that Kapil fell down and he was shifted to hospital in Yousufguda. Sridev rushed to the hospital where he was told that Kapil was brought dead. “Kapil and his friends flew kites on the terrace of the building till 6.30 pm. They consumed liquor and had dinner.
While bringing down the dishes, Kapil accidentally slipped into under-construction elevator shaft from the third floor and suffered injuries,” Madhuranagar inspector B Srinivas said. Sridev said he suspects Kapil’s friends — Akash, Jagadeesh, Vijay, Praveen, Eshwar and Santhosh.
A case was registered under section 304-A of the IPC. Laxmi Vivek, 13, a class V student from Katedan, was electrocuted on Tuesday when he was trying to retrieve a kite stuck on the electrical wires passing next to his three-storeyed house.
Police said Vivek pulled the kite from the high-tension wire and suffered a severe jolt. A 30-year-old pharma company employee, T Naga Subramanyam, from Isnapur was electrocuted when he tried to retrieve kite stuck on the electrical wires in Jogipet on Sunday.
His wife Chamundeshwari Devi said they went to her parents house at Jogipet to meet her sister, who came from Australia. While Subramanyam along with his children was flying a kite, the manja got stuck in live wire. “While trying to remove the manja, my husband suffered an electric shock and fell from the building,” Devi said.
While trying to rescue her husband, Devi also suffered injuries on her hand and leg, police said. A 22-year-old Shiva Kumar was electrocuted in Potpalli village in Sangareddy while trying to get a kite stuck in electric wires near his house. In Korutla town, two children, Satwik and Prashant, suffered injuries when they suffered a shock while trying to retrieve a kite from live line.
K Koteshwar Reddy, 29, an Indian Army jawan died after he suffered a bleeding injury on the neck due to a manja on Langar Houz flyover on Saturday. An 11-year-old boy in Nagole and a 20-year-old student in Pet Basheerabad had also died in accidents related to kite flying during the festive weekend