Telecom operation, engineer, driver — 3 men electrocuted on waterlogged footpath near Gurgaon Metro station

Jaipal Yadav (32), who worked with a Korean firm as a driver, had parked his car and was walking towards the Metro to hail an autorickshaw to go to his home in Wazirabad.

They never reached the station.

The three men were crossing a waterlogged footpath when they were electrocuted.

At the spot Thursday, thick black wires were seen sticking out from the ground near a pole. An uprooted tree lay on the footpath a few feet away.

Police, who received information of the incident around 9.45 pm, found that due to rainwater accumulation, the tree had fallen, bringing down an electric wire with it.

“This caused the water to become electrically charged, resulting in the three individuals being electrocuted,” said a police spokesperson.

P K Chauhan, Superintending Engineer with the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, however, said the insulation of underground cables of a streetlight, maintained by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram, came in contact with the water. “When the tree fell, the cables’ insulation snapped. We cut the connection to the area after the information from the fire department,” he said.

Police said no FIR was registered, but inquest proceedings have been initiated under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita; the bodies have been sent for post-mortem.

Vajpayi worked for a Swiss-based firm, Huber+Suhner. His colleagues reached the police station after their company manager informed them of his death.

One of them, Inderpal, said: “Devesh was going home to take his final semester LLB exam.”

“He had been working with us for eight years and used to earn Rs 23,000. He thought getting a degree would help him get another job,” he said. “He was a loving father and a helpful friend. It was his son’s third birthday on Tuesday and he celebrated by giving us sweets.”

Relatives said Devesh’s brother, Yogesh, who works in Gurgaon, got a call from the police around 4 am. An officer said they retrieved contacts of the families from the phones of the deceased.

In Sangam Vihar, Zama’s family was distraught. Asad Ahmed, his father-in-law, said the family grew anxious when he didn’t return home by 10 pm. His two sons, in their early 20s, called him repeatedly. “But the calls went unanswered. They then went to Gurgaon, and then to his workplace in Manesar, but couldn’t find him. After more calls, around 4 am, police picked up and broke the news,” he said.
Yadav, who had been living in Gurgaon for 10 years, is survived by his wife and four-year-old daughter. “Early this morning, his wife called to inform us he had died,” said Krishan Singh Yadav, a relative who had come from Mahendragarh to take the body back.

Inderjeet Yadav, his older brother, who lives with their mother in Nangal Chaudhary, said he was informed at 2.30 am and left for Gurgaon. “He would come every 15 days to see our mother and call every day. She is devastated. He got married in 2008 and had a daughter very late into their marriage,” he said.