Bengaluru: 15-year-old school girl dies after pole falls on her

Bengaluru: A 15-year-old girl died on Saturday after a pole fell on her from the fifth floor of an under-construction commercial complex in south Bengaluru’s VV Puram, police said. 

Tejaswini Rao, a class 10 student at a private school in VV Puram, succumbed to grievous head injuries, hours after the incident. The incident unfolded around 12.45 pm on National High School Road near National College Metro station when she was returning home after school.

According to the police, work was in progress on the sixth floor of the under-construction complex (ground plus six), and the pole used for supporting a structure buckled and fell directly on Tejaswini. Two pedestrians walking beside her had a narrow escape. 

“The passersby attended to the situation immediately and shifted the girl to Nimhans, but she breathed her last around 2.15 pm due to severe head injuries,” an investigator in the case told DH.

Sudhakar Rao, the girl’s father, has filed a complaint with the VV Puram police alleging the builder flouted safety measures around the construction site and caused the death of his daughter by negligence. 

Police have opened an FIR under BNS Section 106(1), which deals with death by negligence, and have launched a probe. Investigators are trying to retrieve footage from nearby CCTVs to understand the cause behind the pole falling on Tejaswini. 

The officer said that the forensic science laboratory (FSL) officers collected necessary information from the site, and a report will be prepared. Based on the FSL report, the investigators will probe the negligence aspect. The police have also seized the wooden pole.

According to the investigator, they are yet to obtain details about the owner and documents related to the construction of the establishment. 

Tejaswini was a dance enthusiast and actively took part in cultural activities at school. Her class 10 board exams were approaching, according to the police. Tejaswini’s father is a cab driver, and her mother is a homemaker.