7 held over girl's death in Bengaluru apartment complex swimming pool

Bengaluru: Police in eastern Bengaluru have arrested seven people over the mysterious death of a nine-year-old girl in the swimming pool of the Prestige Lakeside Habitat apartment complex in Varthur in December. 

Debashish Sinha, the president of the Prestige Lakeside Habitat Homeowners' Association, PPMS vice-president Javed Safiq Rao, swimming contractor Suresh Babu and electrical technicians — Santosh Maharana, Govind Mandal, Bikas Kumar Farida, Bhakta Charan Pradhan — were arrested by Varthur police for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. If convicted, they face up to 10 years in prison. 

Around 8 pm on December 28, Manya Damerla (9) was playing with her friends near the pool of the apartment complex. She fell into the water while trying to retrieve a ball that had fallen into the swimming pool, and was electrocuted. 

Police visited the spot and initially registered an Unnatural Death Report (UDR). They sent the body for autopsy and also requested histopathology. The reports are awaited. 

On February 8, following a fresh complaint from the girl's father, Varthur police opened a new case under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide) and 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object). 

As per the father's complaint, Manya fell into the pool screaming. When her friends near the pool tried to help her, they also felt the zap and called the elders. 

According to the FIR, when some more neighbours tried to get her out, they too got electric shocks. They used chairs and wood to pull her out but failed. 

"The security guard arrived soon and switched off the MCB to get Manya out of the pool. The residents gathered at the spot tested the pool water with a tester when an electrician arrived at the spot and detected a flow of electricity inside the pool,” the father told police. 

He claimed that the apartment maintenance staff were earlier informed about electric shocks near the pool but had ignored the same. According to him, this negligence was the main reason for his daughter’s death. He named seven people in the complaint. 

Shivakumar Gunare, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Whitefield), told DH that the suspects were arrested based on the father’s complaint and have been placed in judicial custody.