CHENNAI: Forty-year-old C Ramesh, employed in a private firm as a service engineer for billing machines in hotels, last spoke to his wife Rekha around 8.50 pm on Thursday to inform her that he was done with work and would return home in Kattupakkam in an hour.
Five hours later, Ramesh’s close friend Anbu, who was frantic ally searching for his friend, would face the unspeakable task of identifying his friend as the sole victim in the collapse of the girders. Wife apart, Ramesh is survived by a 10-year-old daughter and 77-year-old father.
Rekha, a staff nurse at a private hospital in Porur, called Anbu’s wife Amritha around 10 pm, worried that Ramesh is not reachable. She was concerned since Ramesh always kept her informed even if there were slight delays. After calling Ramesh’s employer in vain, Anbu, who was on his night shift at work, decided to go on a search along the Mount-Poonamallee Road, being taken by Ramesh daily.
It was on reaching Manapakkam that Anbu saw the collapsed girders. Hoping that his worst fears should not come true, he alerted the police about his missing friend. His heart sunk when the police said the details matched the bike under the debris. An hour later, the police brought Ramesh’s backpack. “On seeing the toolkit, I knew it was Ramesh,” said Anbu. Ramesh’s body was retrieved around 3 am.
A senior police officer told TNIE a major disaster was averted as an MTC bus that was fully occupied had crossed the spot just a few seconds before.
The police have booked a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against four employees of Larsen and Toubro.