An elderly father and his middle-aged son fell victim to cyclone in the aftermath due to electrocution when they went to trim a banana plant stem that’d fallen on the ground during last night’s storm at Memari in East Burdwan.
They however couldn’t notice that a damaged cable hooked illegally from the state’s power supply line passing through the banana garden actually had got wrapped around the broken stem that was wet due to incessant rains.
At Kalanabagram locality in Memari, Forrey Singh (64), a planter went to check his banana garden when the rain had stopped for a while this morning. He was electrocuted. As he screamed, his son Tarun (31) went to his rescue but got electrocuted too. The locals somehow managed to rescue the victims and shifted them to the hospital where they were declared as brought-dead. Madhusudan Bhattacharya, MLA, Memari said, “Illegal hooking claimed their lives, actually.” Based on the complaints of the state owned power distribution company, the police have arrested one person today on charges of drawing power illegally.