Contractor, BBMP official booked for girl's death in park

Police have booked three people for criminal negligence over the death of a 13-year-old girl in a BBMP park in MVJ Layout, east Bengaluru.

The FIR registered by the jurisdictional Mahadevapura police is against the contractor responsible for installing play equipment in the park, an unnamed BBMP official and the watchman.

A senior police officer said investigation would fix culpability on the BBMP official. It could be an assistant engineer (AE), assistant executive engineer (AEE) or the joint commissioner, the officer said.
Police investigation shows that the play equipment were brought to the park a week ago. Local residents, especially an elderly woman, had argued with the guard and forced him to open the park for evening walk. The park was left open ever since.

On Saturday, Priya Gowda, whose house is located about two kilometres away, visited a friend who lives near the park. From there, she and her two friends went into the park. Shortly thereafter, a playground slide crashed on her, inflicting grievous injuries on the head. She died later.

Rs 7 lakh ex gratia
On Monday, Mayor G Padmavathi announced ex gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh for Priya’s family. “We will hand over the money to her family on August 19,” she told DH. KR Puram MLA Byrathi Basavaraj has announced Rs 2 lakh for the family.