MUNDWAD (UTTARA KANNADA) : In a shocking incident, an eight-year-old girl was electrocuted in Uttara Kannada district on Thursday. The incident occurred in Mundwad village of Haliyal taluk, where the girl, identified as Sanvi Basavraj Gavali, went to attend nature’s call during the lunch break in the backyard of her school.
According to police, Sanvi stepped on a severed electric wire near the school toilet and was electrocuted. The wire in turn was connected to a borewell to pump water through a newly dug borewell. Separately, it is learnt that the power connection is illegal, being connected to the service line of a distribution line of Hescom. The wire had severed and had fallen inside the toilet used by the children. “Sanvi, who came to use the toilet, came in contact with the live wire and was charred to death,” said a villager.
The entire village of about 50 houses plunged into grief over the tragic incident. Locals blamed Hescom officials, who have allegedly turned a blind eye, despite noticing the illegal power connection.
Senior police officers and the tahsildar of Haliyal visited the scene and inspected it. The body of the girl was shifted to Haliyal Government Hospital, where a post-mortem was conducted.
Upon learning of the incident, senior Congress leader and Haliyal MLA R V Deshpande rushed to the hospital and met the girl’s relatives. He assured them that the people responsible for the unfortunate incident would be brought to book. A police complaint has been lodged.