Bengaluru police arrest seven in swimming pool electrocution of young girl case

The incident happened in December which exposed safety standards in many high-rise apartments of the city.

Bengaluru police arrested a total of seven people in connection with the death of a seven-year-old who died of an electrocution after she fell into a swimming pool at an apartment in Whitefield. The incident happened in December which exposed safety standards in many high-rise apartments of the city.

Bengaluru police arrest seven in swimming pool electrocution of young girl case

According to reports, the president of Prestige Lakeside Habitat, Debasash Sinha, was also among the arrested. The Varthur police also detained the vice president of the apartment and five other electricians. All the accused have been booked under IPC section 149 (member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence) and 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

The victim, Manya Damerla, a class 4 student at a private school, lived in the Prestige Lakeside Habitat apartment located at the Varthur-Gunjur road.

According to the police, Manya was playing near the swimming pool and fell into it and drowned. The girl’s father, Rajesh Kumar Damerla, an entrepreneur-cum-founding chief executive officer of a digital content-creation platform, rushed her to a private hospital where doctors declared her dead.

The Prestige group then released a statement saying, “We deeply regret the tragic incident at Prestige Lakeside Habitat. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the families affected by this devastating loss. Safety is our utmost priority, and we are actively cooperating with the authorities to conduct a thorough investigation to prevent such incidents. We are committed to implementing any necessary measures to prevent such incidents in the future.”

Varthur police then registered a case of unnatural death on the complaint of the girl’s father.