Man dies trying to save brother from live wire

Two brothers cutting grass in their coconut farm in North Bengaluru were electrocuted after coming in contact with a live wire on Sunday. As the news of the tragedy spread, villagers gathered at the local Bescom office and staged a protest.

Muni Kumar (21) and Ravi Kumar (18), of Dasenahalli near Hesaraghatta, were cutting grass for their livestock around 2.30 pm. Gusty winds displaced the branch of a coconut tree and it dropped on an electric wire, which snapped and fell on Muniraju. As Muniraj cried for help, Ravi rushed to his rescue, but ended up coming in contact with the wire. Both of them died instantly, a senior police officer said.

The brothers' screams drew local people. They died because of negligence on the part of the authorities, the villagers said, demanding stringent action against Bescom officials.

Locals block road

The villagers did not allow the jurisdictional Soladevanahlli police to shift the bodies for postmortem. They blocked the Hesaraghatta Main Road for some time. They relented only after the police booked Bescom officials for causing death due to negligence under IPC Section 304A. "Investigation is ongoing to fix culpability for this criminal negligence," the officer said.