9-year-old dies in Pune after pointed tool from construction site falls on his head

The police identified the deceased as Rudra Ketan Raut, a resident of Virbhadranagar in Baner, and said he was walking home with his mother Pooja, 30, when the incident took place.

“The incident took place at the construction site of a project named La Commercia. Initial information suggests that the plumb bob, referred to as olamba by construction workers, which was suspended with a string, fell on Rudra’s head after the string snapped,” Assistant Police Inspector Rajkumar Kendre said.

A plumb bob is a suspended weight which typically has a pointed tip and is used as a vertical reference for the alignment of structures and objects to establish a true vertical line.

“Rudra was rushed to a hospital. In the night, based on his mother’s complaint, a case of attempted culpable homicide was filed. At around 2 am on Thursday, Rudra succumbed to his head injury during treatment,” Kendre added.

According to Kendre, a probe has revealed that no safety net was installed at the construction work site and no other safety measures were in place. “We have invoked culpable homicide charges against the worker who was handling the plumb bob, the contractor of the project and its promoter. The worker has been placed under arrest and a process to arrest others has been initiated,” Kendre said.

Rudra was a student at a local school in Baner. While his father Ketan works at a local gymnasium, his mother Pooja is a homemaker, the police said.