BALASORE: A 21-year-old youth was reportedly electrocuted to death while plucking flowers from his neighbour’s garden in Nilagiri NAC area of Balasore district on Friday morning. The deceased was identified as Tapas Das of Sanatara in Ward no-5.
According to sources, Tapas had gone to the garden of his neighbour Deepak Rout to pluck flowers when he reportedly came in contact with a live wire and suffered an electric shock. He reportedly died instantly.
Later, some passersby noticed the youth’s body lying near a flower tree in the garden. On closer inspection, they found that a cable was tied to the flower plants and connected to a live wire running from a nearby electric pole.
The locals did not touch the body, but identified it as Tapas and informed his family members. Soon, a crowd gathered at the spot. After disconnecting the electric cable, the youth’s body was recovered.
Sources said during questioning by villagers, Deepak and his mother Kuna Rout reportedly admitted that they had installed and charged the wire in the night to prevent theft of flowers from their garden.
As tension flared up, Nilagiri police rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. On being informed, local power supply officials also reached the spot for investigation. Tapas’ body was seized and sent to the hospital for postmortem.
Later in the day, the deceased youth’s parents lodged a complaint in Nilagiri police station against Deepak and Kuna. Basing on the complaint, police have initially registered an unnatural death case. The deceased’s neighbour and his mother will be questioned in connection with the incident. Further investigation is underway, said Nilagiri IIC Gobardhan Nayak.