3 MSEDCL staffers booked for negligence

PUNE: The Kondhwa police on Tuesday booked three employees of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) for alleged negligence which caused the death of a three-year-old boy.
Sufiyan Arshad Ansari got electrocuted after he came in contact with a livewire hanging outside an electric DP box at Ashrafnagar in Kondhwa Budruk on June 5.
The MSEDCL employees, lineman Kailash Lashkare, assistant engineer Shrikant Kashiram Lothe and additional executive engineer Vishwasrao Deshmukh have been booked.
Ansari was playing with his friends when he came in contact with the wire. A shopkeeper used a stick to separate the boy from the wire. The neighbours first took Ansari to his house and then rushed him to the Sassoon general hospital where he was declared dead.
Meanwhile, MSEDCL officials rushed to the spot and disconnected the power supply. The supply was restored after they repaired the DP box.
A complaint of accidental death has been registered under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Sub-inspector Ashwini Patil of the Kondhwa police station, who filed a complaint against the MSEDCL employees, said, “It was negligence on part of the MSEDCL because the DP box was found open from both sides at the time of the accident. Ansari died when he came in contact with a wire. The incident could have been averted had the employees kept the box locked.”
The residents told police that the boy died due to negligence on part of the MSEDCL. We are waiting for a report from the electrical inspector who had examined the DP box, said Patil.
The employees of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd were booked under section 304 (a) (causing death due to negligence) of the Indian Penal Code. No arrests were made.
Assistant inspector P R Shikalgar is investigating further.
An MSEDCL official said, “We have ordered an inquiry into the incident and the report of the electrical inspector is awaited. We will take a call on whether there was any negligence on part of our employees or not after receiving the report.”