Google Maps image locates Villupuram-Mambalapattu Road in Villupuram.

A 13-year-old school student was electrocuted when a DMK flagpole he was erecting with others for a wedding came in contact with a live overhead cable on the Villupuram-Mambalapattu Road. The incident occurred on Friday evening, and the police registered a case on Saturday.

Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudi attended the wedding. When contacted, he acknowledged that the boy died while erecting a DMK flagpole. “The organiser has paid his family ₹1.5 lakh in compensation.”

Police sources said the body of E. Dinesh, a Class VIII student of the Government High School in Villupuram, was sent to the Government Villupuram Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem examination and then handed over to his family.

Municipal sources said the road was under the Highways Department. An application for the no-objection certificate for erecting flagpoles had to be sent to the Collector, who would then forward it to the municipality for payment of charges. But no application was made, they said.

Following accidents caused by flex banners and flagpoles in the past, DMK president M.K. Stalin had appealed to party workers to avoid grandeur at political events. In 2019, a young woman died in Chennai when she fell from her scooter after an AIADMK flex banner crashed on her . The same year, another woman riding a scooter was severely injured in Coimbatore while trying to avoid an AIADMK flagpole.

Our code of editorial values

Printable version | May 27, 2022 11:10:21 pm | https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/boy-electrocuted-while-erecting-dmk-flagpole/article36050786.ece