Cuttack: A man was found dead in an open drain at Mahima Nagar area under CRRI police station in Odisha’s Cuttack city on Thursday morning.
The deceased has been identified as a resident of Jajpur. He was working as a mason in Cuttack.
Refuting media reports which blamed the Cuttack Municipal Corporation for lapses leading to the accident, City Mayor Subash Chandra Singh said that the man had fallen dead near the drain last night. “He was seen creating ruckus last night in an inebriated state and later found dead. The locals then pushed the body into the drain. It is impossible for anyone to died after falling into a one-foot drain. There was also no water in the drain so there is no question of drowning,” he said.
He further said that the slabs were placed near the drain since construction and cleaning work was on. “Things will be clear once the inquiry and postmortem reports are out,” he added.
