The North News
New Delhi, February 6
A motorcyclist died after falling into a 15-feet-deep pit dug by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) for construction work in west Delhi’s Janakpuri area, police said on Friday.
The deceased has been identified as Kamal Bhayani (25), a resident of Kailashpuri, who worked at the call centre of a private bank, police said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Darade Sharad Bhaskar said, “At around 8 am, a woman called the police control room to report that a man was lying inside a pit approximately 15 feet deep and was not moving. A police team immediately rushed to the spot.”
“A pit had been dug by the Delhi Jal Board, into which Kamal Bhayani fell and unfortunately died,” the DCP said.
Preliminary investigation suggests that the pit was dug at a DJB construction site, which was barricaded, a senior police officer said.
“We are investigating all aspects of the incident. This road has been closed for the past few days, and the pit was dug on Thursday. It is possible that the person used to take this route every day for commuting and was unaware of the pit,” the DCP said.
According to the victim’s family, Kamal was returning home late Thursday night from his office in Rohini and was in touch with them. However, when he failed to reach home until late at night, they began searching for him and visited several police stations, including Janakpuri, Sagarpur, Vikas Puri and Rohini.
The family said they searched for Kamal throughout the night but were informed around 8 am about his body being found in the pit.
Karan, the deceased’s twin brother, told PTI, “I got to know through a call I made to my brother’s phone, which was answered by the police. They told us they had found his body. When we reached there, we saw his body and his motorcycle lying inside the pit. There were safety measures in place, so I cannot understand how he fell in,” he said.
He said, “We are three brothers, and we are twins. We had been searching for him since last night, roaming around different areas. The police did not help us.
“We went to at least seven to eight police stations, but no one helped us. It was only in the morning that I called his phone, and the police informed us that he had been found dead,” he said.
The deceased’s childhood friend, Mayank, alleged gross negligence by the authorities and said the family had been left shattered by the incident.
“They were twin brothers. Now, when their mother looks at the surviving son’s face, what will she feel? We have lied to her, saying that we have not met him yet and that he is undergoing treatment,” he said.
“This is complete negligence. Even if it was an accident, had they found him in time, we could have taken him to the hospital and saved his life. What will happen to his father, who had been searching for him for over seven hours?” Mayank said.
Mayank said Kamal was last spoken to around 11.30 pm.
“He told us he was near the district centre and would reach home in 15 minutes. When he did not return even after half an hour, we started searching for him. We first went to the Janakpuri police station and requested them to trace the phone, which was still ringing,” Mayank said.
“They gave us a location, but it did not match. We asked them to register a complaint, but they said it could only be done in the morning and that searching at night was not possible. None of the seven police stations we visited registered a complaint,” he alleged.
Mayank added that Kamal, who was returning from his office in Rohini Sector 10, had no enmity with anyone. “He was a very good person who would go straight home from work. I believe someone has killed him and dumped his body in the pit. There should have been proper barricading to stop people from coming this way,” he said.
Police, however, have ruled out any foul play and called it an ‘unfortunate incident’, but they are investigating all angles.
“Kamal’s brother, Naresh Bhayani, came to the Janakpuri police station around 2.45 am and informed us that Kamal had been missing since the night,” the DCP said.
“We attempted to trace his location and found that his last known location was near the district park. Despite conducting a search, he could not be located,” he said.
Police also said they attempted to narrow down the location of the mobile phone tower and conducted search operations during the night, but were unable to trace him. Police personnel were also sent along with the family to conduct searches, they said.
Meanwhile, the DJB has constituted a high-level Inquiry Committee to ensure a transparent investigation into the incident.
“This unfortunate incident has been reported from the site. The matter is being investigated by DJB and the police,” a senior DJB officer said.
The incident comes weeks after the death of 27-year-old software engineer Yuvraj Mehta, who drowned after his car fell into a waterlogged pit near a construction site in Noida’s Sector 150 on the intervening night of January 16 and 17.
