'Civic Negligence, Not Tragedy': Family Of Biker Who Died In Janakpuri Pit Says They Got No Police Help

Janakpuri: A young man died after falling into an open pit along with his motorcycle in Delhi’s Janakpuri area late on Thursday night, triggering massive furore regarding civic negligence in the national capital. Speaking to reporters, the deceased's brother said on Friday that the victim lost his life to gross carelessness.

The deceased has been identified as 25-year-old Kamal, a resident of Kailashpuri. According to initial information, Kamal was returning home from his office, the HDFC Bank call centre in Rohini, Sector 10, late at night when the incident occurred. The pit reportedly falls under the purview of the Delhi Jal Board.

Holding the authorities accountable, Kamal's father said, "Delhi Jal Board is responsible for the death of my son."

"This is not a tragedy, this is a blatant display of civic negligence by the authorities," said his brother. "When I last spoke to him around 11.53, he had said he would return home in another 10 minutes. However, when he did not return till 12.30 am, I got worried given the news of people going missing from the city. When I found his phone unreachable despite several attempts to reach him, I went to the police," he added.

He further alleged that despite reaching several police stations, he received no urgent support from the police personnel. "I went to at least 6 police stations, including Rohini, Mangalpuri, and others. They offered no help to us. They did not even try to reach us upon discovering his dead body. It was only when I dialled his number in the morning that they picked up the call, and said he had an accident," Kamal's brother said.

"If only the police had shown some urgency, taken action on time, and located him sooner, he would have been alive today," he added.

Sources indicate that the site was an active construction zone for the Delhi Jal Board, where a deep ditch had been excavated directly on the roadway. Family members said Kamal was in constant contact with them while travelling back home. However, when he failed to return till late night, and his phone became unreachable, the family began searching for him.

The police said a case has been registered and the matter is under investigation. “All angles are being examined. We are verifying whether the pit was open and if there was any foul play involved,” a police officer said. This comes a few weeks after Noida techie Yuvraj Mehta died when his speeding car crashed into a flooded basement in Noida's Sector-150.

(With agency inputs)

Also read: 'Not The Only Boy Missing': Friend Of Biker Who Died In Delhi Ditch Recounts Being Turned Away By 7 Police Stations