Teen electrocuted, mob torches vehicle

Kolkata: Violence gripped Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas following the death of a teenaged boy due to electrocution on Tuesday.

The incident took place at Kamarpol in Sarisha at around 3 pm.

A team of engineers of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company (WBSEDCL), a public company under the state power department, visited the area for repair work of the electric wires in wake complaints of power-theft.

Villagers, however, started fuming suspecting that power supply would be snapped in their homes.

According to them, when the work was underway, a live wire accidentally fell on Karim Syed Ansari (16), who was passing by an electric pole, leading to his death on the spot.

Furious over the incident, the villagers beat the team members before attacking an office of the WBSEDCL’s customer care centre at Sarisha. They torched a vehicle and damaged another inside the office premise.

Cops rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.

A fire engine was pressed to douse the car on fire. Divisional manager (Diamond Harbour) of the WBSEDCL Supratim Pal informed that the vandalism at the company’s office led to a huge loss. He added that injured employees were admitted to Sarisha Grameen Hospital for treatment.

State power minister Shovandeb Chattopadhyay, however, informed that no drive was underway to check power theft in the area.

“There was no raid conducted by our department against power-theft. The team went to there to fit the cable wires replacing the old ones. But a boy meanwhile tried to cut off an illegal connection on his own leading to electrocution. So our department was not at fault. We are offering relief in tariff on electric supply. Still, some people avail of electric supply illegally,” he said.