JAGATSINGHPUR: A 15-year-old boy was reportedly electrocuted to death while lowering the national flag at a private coaching centre in Kujang area of Jagatsinghpur on Monday.
The deceased has been identified as Om Prakash Dwivedi, a resident of Teragaon village in Kendrapara district. He was a Class X student of BB High School, Kujang and staying at his maternal uncle’s house in Samagol.
Om was reportedly enrolled in Topperwala coaching centre where the mishap took place. Notably, the coaching centre operates from the residence of a local advocate along Kujang–Trilochanpur road.
Sources said the national flag was unfurled at the coaching centre on the occasion of Republic Day on Monday. The flag was mounted on an iron pipe. Om was reportedly tasked with lowering the Tricolour from the pole.
In the afternoon, the student reached the coaching centre and was removing the pipe when it accidentally came in contact with an overhead electricity wire. He received a severe electric shock and collapsed on the spot.
Om was rushed to Kujang community health centre (CHC) in an unconscious condition. However, the doctors declared him dead.
Local residents alleged that the negligence of the coaching centre authorities led to the student’s death. The victim’s father, Manas Kumar Dwivedi, also filed an FIR against the owner of the coaching centre in Kujang police station.
Kujang IIC Bansidhar Pradhan said acting on the complaint, police registered an unnatural death case and detained the coaching centre’s owner Ashwini Kumar Nanda for interrogation.
The deceased student’s body was sent to Kujang CHC for postmortem. Further investigation is underway, Pradhan added.