BENGALURU: Cubbon Park police probing the death of two customers at #BEiR on Church Street late Friday night, on Saturday arrested Abhishek Kulkarni, the lessee who was running the pub on the premises, on charges of negligence causing death.
The two customers, Pavan Attavar, 36, a resident of RMV II Stage, and his woman friend Veda Yadav, 28, a resident of RT Nagar, suffered a fatal fall from the second floor landing of the building where the pub is located. Around 11.30pm as they came down the stairs, they slipped and fell through the open window. While Veda died on the spot, Pavan succumbed to his injuries a little later at Bowring Hospital, where he was rushed for treatment.
The incident took place even as newly appointed Police Commissioner Alok Kumar and several of his officers were present in the vicinity, right next to the building along with several media persons. The top cop who took it upon himself to check the nuisance caused by high decibel music played at the late night city pubs on the high court’s orders, was faced with this far more shockingly incident.
The window through which the duo fell, had no grills or glass, and it was found to be open at the floor level, posing a grave threat to anyone walking down. On spot inspection, the cops found the staircase where the duo slipped was poorly-lit.
A senior police officer handling the case said that Kulkarni, the pub manager, building owner and the pub licence-holder Chandan Mudigere, have been blamed for the tragic incident.
The police are looking for Mudigere and the pub manager, whose identity is yet to be ascertained. The police have registered a case against four persons. Kulkarni’s interrogation is expected to yield more details about the case, the investigating officer said.
Veda and Pavan were rushed to the hospital in a Hoysala vehicle before an ambulance could reach the spot.
Pramod Rao, who had accompanied Pavan and Veda to the pub, gave a statement to the police. “They had come to the pub for a party and police have recovered the bill paid by them and details of what they consumed. It seems to be a clear case of the duo being under the influence of alcohol and losing balance while descending the stairs, which led to the tragedy,” the officer said, quoting Pramod.
During investigations, police found that there was no panic in the manner in which Pavan and Veda were exiting the premises. Rumours had been rife that the two were exiting the pub in a hurry, fearing an impending police raid. The rumour was found to be unfounded, and the CCTV at #BEiR too captured the duo walking out of the pub with no signs of panic.
The police officer said they had also ruled out foul play and suicide as cause for their death.
Pavan, an employee of a private publication, was married a few years ago and is said to have applied for a divorce. Veda, a quality manager at a multinational tech firm, was separated from her husband, and has an eight-year-old daughter.
The duo’s shocked and grieving parents have rushed to Bowring Hospital to receive their bodies. Veda’s parents have also brought her little daughter with them. However, none of them were in a condition to speak. The bodies were sent to a postmortem, the report of which is awaited.
HOW THEY FELL
CCTV footage revealed the entire incident of how the duo slipped through the window while walking down the staircase. When they were on the landing between the third and second floors, Veda lost her balance. Pavan grabbed her but was pulled by the momentum of Veda’s fall. Both fell through the open window from a height of 30 feet. The duo crashed on the ground just in front of the portico at the entrance to the building