Nearly three weeks after an electrocution incident during the Ganpati festival in Lalbaug that claimed two lives and left four others injured, police are yet to arrest the accused named in the case, with them still trying to establish who should be held accountable for the tragedy.
Police sources told this newspaper that Kamal Shetty, the operator of the temporary beverage stall near the Kalachowkie Vibhag Sarvajanik Utsav Mandal where the incident occurred, may not be entirely responsible for the deaths.
The accused is not absconding, but police are still examining the circumstances that led to the electrocution and the respective roles of those involved in the electrical arrangements.
Safety lapses
With police sources indicating that Shetty may not be entirely responsible, the central question is whether investigators have identified the other people who may have contributed to the circumstances leading to the electrocution.
This includes examining who installed or modified the wiring and whether those responsible for arranging the temporary electrical setup complied. The circumstances of the incident also raised concerns about crowd management. The road was reportedly packed with devotees, and eyewitnesses said people were jostling for space as crowds moved in opposite directions.
Eyewitnesses also said the congestion made it difficult for ambulances to reach the spot. Whether crowding contributed to the incident and whether any lapses in crowd management played a role in the deaths would need to be established separately. A special team is set to investigate this case.
Sujata Thodeta, one of the deceased. File pics
Accused booked
An FIR was registered against Shetty under Sections 106(1) and 125(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), relating to causing death by negligence and endangering life or personal safety resulting in grievous hurt, respectively. However, the absence of an arrest, weeks after the incident, raises questions about what the investigation has established so far and why the question of responsibility remains unresolved.
OfficialSpeak
“It remains to be established whether the stall operator acted alone or whether other individuals had a role in the electrical arrangements,” an official privy to the investigation said. “A faulty or unauthorised connection, does not establish the criminal responsibility of every person associated with the stall or the mandal. The investigation needs to establish who carried out the work, and whether any specific act of negligence contributed to the deaths.
Unauthorised electrical connection
Preliminary findings by the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking pointed to unauthorised modifications to a temporary electrical connection at the site. BEST said the electricity meter had been sanctioned for the Ganpati mandal, while its initial investigation indicated that the nearby stall had allegedly drawn an unauthorised connection from it.
BEST issued a notice to the Kalachowkie Vibhag Sarvajanik Utsav Mandal over the faulty electrical installation. The mandal’s organisers denied knowledge of the unauthorised connection. These findings raise questions about who arranged and modified the wiring, who connected the stall to the supply, and who was responsible for ensuring that the installation was safe.
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