Puri: A routine cable installation ended in tragedy on Sunday evening when two television cable technicians were electrocuted on the premises of the Baliapanda police station in Odisha’s Puri.
The deceased have been identified as Bapi Pradhan, a resident of Jali Sahi near Ram Mandir, and Subrat Sahu from Mangala Sahi, both in their 30s.
According to sources, the incident occurred in an open parking area of the police station while the duo was laying a new overhead cable near a live 11 kV power line. Pradhan attempted to toss the cable over the high-voltage line while Sahu held the opposing end. The cable accidentally grazed the live line, transmitting a lethal current through both workers.
Puri SP Prateek Singh described the incident as tragic and prima facie accidental. Reviewing security footage from the premises, he confirmed that CCTV captured both technicians collapsing immediately after coming in contact with the live wire. Police personnel on duty promptly rushed the victims to the Puri District Headquarters Hospital in a Police Control Room (PCR) vehicle, where attending physicians pronounced them dead on arrival.
Tension flared at the hospital premises following allegations from the victims’ families that authorities transported the bodies without notifying relatives or dispatching an ambulance. Seeking justice and demanding formal clarifications, grieving family members staged a sit-in demonstration outside the hospital’s postmortem facility. Senior police officers, including SP Singh, soon reached the hospital to defuse tensions.
Two cases of unnatural death have been registered at Baliapanda police station and a detailed inquiry is underway to establish the precise sequence of events. Meanwhile, police extended financial assistance of Rs 30,000 from Red Cross society fund to the families of each deceased.