'Woman walker forced guard to open park'

Claims corporator; resident says playground unlocked on most evenings

An elderly woman forced the guard to open the BBMP park in eastern Bengaluru, where a 13-year-old girl died after a playground slide crashed on her Saturday. She wanted to go for evening walk, the local corporator has claimed.

The woman, who lives close to the park in MVJ Layout, Mahadevapura, argued with the watchman and forced him to open the gates so that she could go for her evening walk, Vijnana Nagar (ward number 81) corporator S G Nagaraj suggested.

Police had said that Priya Gowda and her two friends sneaked into the park which was locked as work on installing the slide was under way.

The watchman, a contract employee with the BBMP, went to guard another park in the neighbourhood once the woman left the playground in MVJ Layout. The three girls sneaked into the park after seeing the gates open. Priya died from grievous head injuries later.

Local residents, however, contradicted the corporator, saying the park remains open in the evening. “The park usually remains open on most evenings regardless of the progress of the work (on installation of the play equipment). We believe the work had stopped in the past few days because of rain,” said Jawahar Prem Kumar V, whose house overlooks the park.

The day after the tragedy, the park was locked and all uninstalled play equipment were lying on the ground. Some residents were seen peeping into the park to see the accident spot. One of Priya’s bloodstained shoes was also seen on the spot.

Seemanth Kumar Singh, Additional Commissioner of Police (East), visited the park on Sunday. He said a case of causing death to negligence had been opened against the BBMP official concerned. The park was not secured and the on-duty watchman was missing at the time of the incident. The Mahadevapura police have summoned both the watchman and the contractor for questioning.

Priya lay bleeding in the park for over half an hour after the slide crashed on her. “Her shocked friends could only move the slide aside. Many people gathered in the park, but most of them were busy taking pictures of my girl or filming her on their phones,” Priya’s father Subramanya Gowda said. “No one was willing to take a vehicle and take her to hospital.”

It was an army man, a resident of MVJ Layout, who rushed to the park after learning about the incident through a friend. He took Priya to a hospital in his motorcycle where she was declared brought dead, another relative said. Priya was the eldest of the two children of Gowda and Vijayakumari. Her 10-year-old brother Deekshith Gowda remains inconsolable.

Her body was brought to her house in Baddi Krishnappa Layout after the post-mortem was over at Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital on Sunday morning. Her last rites were performed at the Mahadevapura crematorium around 3 pm.