NEW DELHI: Monday evening's heavy rain in the city led to several cases of electrocution. According to sources, at least seven people, including two children, were electrocuted in separate incidents in Chandni Chowk, Mansarover Park, Anand Parbat and West Patel Nagar. While six of the victims are dead, one from West Patel Nagar is reported to be critical.

One of the men who died in Dariba Kalan, Chandni Chowk, has handbags-d been identified as Ramesh, 40, a hawker. The other, a biker, is still to be identified. LNJP Hospital's medical superintendent, Amit Banerjee, told TOI: "Two people from Chandni Chowk were brought dead due to electrocution late in the evening." The incident occurred around 6 pm and was reportedly due to some malfunction in the streetlights. According to Sanjay Bhargava, general secretary of Chandni Chowk traders' associaton: "The underground cables in the Walled City are in a bad shape and a lot of them are naked and not properly secured. The area had got waterlogged, and when a high-tension wire fell into the water, two people died because of electrocution. Soon after that, around 8:30 pm, the entire area plunged into darkness as the catalog printing discom snapped power supply."

Meanwhile, the agencies concerned were indulging in a blame game over the deaths in Chandni Chowk. Discom BSES Yamuna passed the buck to MCD saying that the electrocution was caused by streelights maintained by them. "There was a leakage in the streetlights maintained by MCD which led to the deaths," said an official from the discom.

The MCD officials, in turn, blamed the discom. "All our streetlights are maintained by BSES," said MCD chief K S Mehra.

In northeast Delhi's Mansarover Park, two persons were electrocuted late in the evening and were declared brought dead at a city hospital. The power supplier in this case too was BSES Yamuna. Both victims were on cycles and going towards Jhilmil Colony when a high-tension wire fell on them. Both were killed on the spot.

At Patel Nagar, where the power supplier is BSES Rajdhani, two children, Naveen and Amit, playing in the park came in contact with an electric pole. Amit died while being taken to hospital and Naveen is reported to be critical. Another child was reported to have died due to electrocution in Anand Parbat late in the evening. For Reprint Rights: timescontent.com

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