2 electrocuted, 4 hurt during Babasaheb Ambedkar procession in Mumbai

MUMBAI: A celebration on the eve of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's 132nd birth anniversary on Thursday night turned fatal when two men, part of a procession, were electrocuted after a flag mounted on a metal rod of a trolley touched a transformer in Kargil Nagar in Virar (E). Four others sustained burn injuries.
Around 9pm, hundreds of residents took out a procession to celebrate Dr Ambedkar's birth anniversary. A trolley carrying a portrait of Dr Ambedkar and a Jai Bhim flag moved around the locality as the crowd danced to music. Around 90 minutes later, as the procession concluded, some men were pulling the trolley, when the flag mounted on a metal rod hit a transformer.
Rupesh Surve (30) and Sumit Sood (23) were electrocuted and died on the spot. Their bodies were sent for autopsy. Umesh Kanojia, Rahul Jagtap (both 18) and Satyanarayan (23) sustained serious burns and were admitted to Kasturba Hospital in Byculla. Ashmit Kambe (32) sustained minor burn injuries and was being treated at the civic hospital.
Eyewitnesses told police that the wheels of the trolley landed in a pothole and it tilted, leading to the metal rod coming in contact with the transformer.
They said such was the impact of the electric current that the victims were flung to a distance.
Police said that a case of accidental death has been registered.