CHENNAI: A day after 59-year-old woman slipped and died near a newly constructed stormwater drain on Anna Nagar 2nd Avenue, preliminary postmortem findings have pointed to electrocution as the likely cause of death, even as the power utility and Greater Chennai Corporation were split over the source of the live current.
Hospital sources told TNIE that while the official postmortem report is yet to be issued, the preliminary findings indicate that the woman may have died of electrocution. Police sources said they were awaiting the final report before deciding on further action. Electrocution from a high-tension (HT) cable is among the possibilities being examined, said senior officials.
Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (TNPDCL) officials, however, denied that their infrastructure was responsible and said that the source could have been the cables connected to streetlights maintained by the corporation.Corporation officials, on the other hand, said an inspection of the site found no streetlight cables running through the spot where the incident occurred.
“Although we are not directly responsible for the incident, we cannot shirk responsibility altogether as a government agency. We will work together with other departments to ensure such incidents do not happen again,” a senior corporation official said. M Kalavathi (59), a resident of Padi who worked as housekeeping staff in Anna Nagar, was returning home after visiting a church when she fell at the spot. Initial reports suggested that she had fallen into a pit dug for stormwater drain work.
However, corporation officials said construction on that stretch had been completed several weeks ago.
A visit to the spot by TNIE also found that while work was under way in other portions of 2nd Avenue, no stormwater drain work was being carried out at the spot where Kalavathi fell.