Housekeeper loses hand in freak accident

A 19-year-old housekeeping staff had his hand sliced off in a freak accident while operating the food waste shredder in the basement of a central mall in Bellandur on Monday.

On Wednesday, police registered a case against 14 people in connection with the incident, including the owner of the mall.

The housekeeping staff, Tarun Kumar, joined the department 20 days ago. Kumar’s father Narasimha said in his complaint that the teenager had urged his seniors for a different assignment as he had problems operating the shredder. But Kumar was neither offered training to operate the machine nor given safety gears. Kumar tried feeding the shredder with the waste when his senior was out for lunch. He screamed for help as his right hand was stuck in the machine. Though two of his colleagues Gopal Reddy and Venkatesh rushed to his rescue and pulled him out of the machine, his hand had been sliced by then.

The teenager was immediately taken to Sakra hospital, where doctors amputated his right hand.

Narasimha said Kumar had written SSLC exams and was opting to work in the vacation to save money for his college. The father, who earns Rs 10,000 a month, had to sell part of his household items to pay for Kumar’s medical bills which came up to Rs 75,000.

Doctors say the operation is in progress and they have decided to replace the severed palm with the toes from his leg, which would take at least three weeks.

Bellandur police have filed the case for negligence and endangering life and personal safety against the 14 people.