Bescom employee electrocuted while repairing power line

In a tragic incident, a 42-year-old Bescom employee was electrocuted while busy fixing a glitch on an electric pole in Thanisandra near Kothanur on Sunday morning.

His family later accused Bescom engineers of causing his death by negligence.

The deceased has been identified as Muruli M, a resident of Chikka Banaswadi. He was working as lineman with BESCOM for the past 15 years and is survived by wife Meena and a 16-years-old son.

Muruli’s family staged a protest before Ambedkar Hospital, accusing Bescom engineers of being negligent and causing his death. They demanded the arrest of those responsible.

Kothanur police had taken up a case against Assistant Executive Engineer Muniraju and junior engineer M S Chandrashekar, booking them for causing death due to negligence.

Muruli was at home since Sunday was a holiday. Around 10.30 am, junior engineer Chandrashekar called Muruli to fix an issue at Thanisandra that caused power failure.

Muruli immediately reached the spot and found Chandrashekar and other linemen there. He turned off the power line and climbed the electric pole. As he carried out the repair, he was electrocuted as electricity was passing through the wire suddenly.

Chandrashekar and the other lineman panicked and fled the spot. Locals, noticing the mishap, called an ambulance. Kothanuru police also rushed to the spot.

Muruli’s family told police that he died because the BESCOM engineers were negligent. They said Muniraju did not like Muruli and he asked the power to be turned on with an intention to kill him.

They also wanted a senior Bescom official to visit the hospital. Senior police and BESCOM officials, who visited the hospital, assured Muruli’s family of a detailed investigation and persuaded them to withdraw the protest.