MUMBAI: Four young men have been arrested in Mumbai for opening a manhole into which a senior doctor Deepak Amarapurkar subsequently fell and died on August 29 when the metropolis was pounded by a downpour and its streets were waterlogged.
Siddhesh Ashow Bhalekar (25), Rakesh Janardan Kadam (38), Nilesh Janardan Kadam (33) and Dinar Raghunath Pawar (36), all residents of Elphinstone Road, were arrested Saturday evening and have been charged with culpable homicide, said assistant police commissioner Sunil Deshmukh.
The four men opened at least four manholes in the area on August 29 after water started entering homes, the officer said.
On the evening of August 29,l Dr Amarapurkar, head of the gastroenterology department of Bombay Hospital, decided to walk home due to waterlogging near Elphinstone Road.
After he had not returned home that night, an extensive search operation was undertaken to look for him. A few local people told police they had seen an aged man being sucked into an open manhole in the area. Dr Amarapurkar's body was found near Worli Sea Face on August 31.
The death of the doctor triggered a public outcry in Mumbai and the administration of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation was blamed for civic neglect. However, the administration maintained that none of its staff members had opened the manholes. Police then started an investigation to find out who had opened the manholes. After carefully studying CCTV footage from the area, police came to conclusion that local residents had opened the manholes and accordingly nabbed the four men after analysing the footage.
The four men who have been arrested had opened the manholes thinking that doing so would help flush out the floodwater, Deshmukh said. They have been sent to judicial custody and would be subjected to an identification parade at the Arthur Road Jail, the officer added.
Whenever BMC workers open a manhole, they place a warning signboard - generally with a red flag - near it. These men did so without any authority and didn't post a warning.