Live wire dangling from pole kills 6­-year-­old, injures 2 others

MUMBAI: Playtime turned tragic for a group of children from Davri Nagar in Santacruz East when a six-year-old girl got electrocuted and two other children sustained injuries on Friday night. A live wire from a street light pole had come in contact with an iron framework that the kids touched accidentally. Vakola police got the power connection disconnected following the tragedy and have registered an FIR against an unknown person for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Incensed local residents said the location of the street light pole had been moved ever since building construction work began on an adjacent plot.
Tehreen Iftekhar, the deceased, was the second among four siblings. Around 11pm on Friday, Tehreen and her friends were playing on the stretch between Davri Nagar, a bustling slum, and Chaitanya colony which comprises apartment buildings.
“My neighbour and I were seated nearby and were chatting when her son, Tanish Shinde, 5, came towards us. He complained of a sharp stab of pain in his leg and said his friends were hurt too. We rushed to check and found Tehreen lying on the ground, motionless. She was bleeding from the nose and was partially covered in mud,” said Nilofar Shaikh, a local resident. Tehreen’s mother was summoned and the local residents tried their best to revive the child.They eventually rushed her to V N Desai Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Shinde and another five-year-old child, Vaishnavi Madwe had suffered injuries from an electric shock and continue to remain hospitalised. Doctors said they are now stable.
A spokesperson for Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd spokesperson said the street light pole cabling was suspected to have been tampered with by miscreants and that resulted in the electrocution. “Our condolences go out to the bereaved. Our dedicated team is fully cooperating with the police and investigating the issue,” the spokesperson said. Vakola police said they would determine whose negligence led to the death of the child and inquiries would be made with the concerned person from Adani Electricity. As of now, an unknown person has been booked under Section 304 of IPC.
On Saturday, the stretch which used to be filled with kids was vacant. “Our children have always played outside as houses in the slum are very tiny. But we are very concerned about sending them out now. We are not sure for how long the live wire was dangling from the pole,” said a parent.