Reportedly in a shocking case of civic apathy, a 42 year old driver in Chitlapakkam was electrocuted to death on Monday, when an electric pole in his neighborhood collapsed on him and while police claim that it was a freak accident, residents and activists in Chitlapakkam allege that it is a result of negligence by the Tamilnadu Electricity board.
Meanwhile Sethuraj had left his residence around 8.30 pm to feed four stray dogs that he took care of in his locality, when the incident happened. Furthermore Chitlapakkam police told TNM that both the pole and the electric wire had fallen on the father of two, leading to his death and the victim was married to Shankari, who works at a school and has two children aged 14 and eight.
An investigating officer said "We have filed a case of unnatural death based on the complaint given by his family". Meanwhile activists from Chitlapakkam rising, a local NGO, point out that multiple complaints have been filed by residents regarding the state of the electricity poles and lights in the area, the police denied this. Further when asked why there was no section for negligence included, the investigating officer said, "It is not like a complaint given by the residents for that pole was not acted on (by officials). If that was the case, we would have looked into a case of negligence."
