VILLUPURAM: A wireman associated with the state electricity department on Thursday was apprehended in connection with the death by electrocution case. The search is on to nab a junior engineer and a foreman.
The Kedar police said the deceased was identified as H Vishnupathi (25) of Siruvalai village near Villupuram. He had left home on Tuesday evening and did not return even after nightfall. His family began searching for him and his body was discovered in a sugarcane farm in the village on Wednesday evening. The police arrived and examined the body to conclude that Vishnupathi died of electrocution after accidentally stepping on a severed electric line. His body was sent for an autopsy at the Government Villupuram Medical College Hospital.
The villagers and Vishnupathi’s relatives alleged that the electric line had been lying severed since three weeks and despite lodging complaints, the electricity department failed to repair it. The police filed a case against three individuals from the electricity department office in Puthamedu, namely wireman M Balu (52), from Sorapattu village near Vikrawandi, foreman Manikandan and junior engineer Saravanan under IPC section 304 (ii) (causing the death of a person by a rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide).
“Bala was apprehended on Thursday. We are trying to locate the remaining two who are currently absconding,” stated a police source. The arrest of an Electricity Board (EB) staff due to negligence has caused a stir in Villupuram.