Karnataka HC rejects BESCOM officials’ plea to quash criminal case in electrocution incident
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has refused to quash a criminal case registered against BESCOM officials after the death of a woman and her nine-month-old child due to electric shock as the woman came in contact with a live wire broken and lying on a public road.
Justice M Nagaprasanna, who was a part of the single-judge bench hearing the case, dismissed the plea by BESCOM Executive Engineer Sriram and the Assistant Executive Engineer to quash the case filed against them under Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code (causing death by negligence), reports LiveLaw. The case was registered against the officials based on a police complaint filed by Santhosh Kumar, husband of the deceased woman.
The bench pointed out that, as the wife and the child of the complainant have died, it would amount to negligence, and that who holds responsibility in such cases of negligence would always be a matter of investigation or trial.
Stating that innocent lives were lost due to the negligence of the Electricity Department officers, Justice Nagaprasanna added that the officers would have to face the law and need to be accountable for what he called ‘a casual loss of life of a citizen’. “It is high time that these officers wake up, right from top brass to the man on the field and put their effort to obviate such instances being repeated overall again, as a citizen cannot bear the impact of repetition of such negligence, leading to death of lives,” he told the petitioners.
The complainant Santhosh Kumar had told the police that on November 19, 2023, they went to Hope Farm. His wife was carrying their nine-month-old daughter, when she came in contact with the live wire lying on the street, and the mother-daughter duo died of electrocution, suffering an electric shock.
As the locals reacted strongly to the incident, BESCOM transferred Sriram and suspended the second petitioner, but the High Court reversed both orders, forcing the petitioners to request the court to quash the case against them.
While the advocate representing BESCOM argued that the Assistant Engineer could be considered responsible for the incident, at the most. The petitioners, who held the posts of executive engineer and the assistant executive engineer under BESCOM, had no wrongdoing which could be directly attributed to them.
The prosecution, however, opposed the plea, saying many officials are charged in the case and everybody cannot wash off their hands on the basis of a report of an officer of the Electrical Inspectorate of the Electricity Department, who is an officer of BESCOM. It also rejected the report of the Electrical Inspectorate, which, after its inquiry, opined that it was ‘nobody’s fault’ and quashed the order of suspension.
Justice Nagaprasanna stressed that the death due to electric shock could not be compared to a branch of a tree falling on a passerby. He pointed out that the broken live wire had been brought to the notice of the Department through the BESCOM helpline and the junior engineer was to attend to it, as it was his duty to immediately attend to helpline complaints. The judge also said, “Merely because other officers from Station Operator in the hierarchy have different roles and responsibility, they being officers of BESCOM in the operation and maintenance department, have to undertake periodic checks of wires that are snapped and hanging. It is here the role of all these persons would become applicable.”
The statement of the Electrical Inspectorate in its inquiry report, calling it ‘nobody’s fault’, would not mean that these petitioners will be left off the hook, as the investigation in the least, should be permitted to continue, the High Court has stated.
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Kasaragod: ED books Kunhahmed Musliyar Memorial Trust for FCRA violation
New Delhi (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate has registered a forex violation case against a Kerala-based charitable organisation for receiving Rs 220 crore from abroad in alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
The investigation pertains to Kunhahmed Musliyar Memorial Trust located in Kasargod and its chairman Ibrahim Ahmad Ali, an NRI.
Searches were conducted under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) at two locations in Kasargod on Thursday in connection with the case, the ED said in a statement.
The Trust, according to the ED, received more than Rs 220 crore since 2021 from Ibrahim Ahmad Ali, which was reflected in the books of accounts as "unsecured" loans.
However, no loan agreement, interest rate terms, or repayment schedule were available, and no repayment had been made till date, the probe agency said.
The probe found that these funds were received by Ali from a UAE company named Universal Lubricants LLC.
In the absence of supporting documents and in view of the clarification given under a section of the FCRA, the said loan prima facie qualified as "foreign contribution" under FCRA, the statement said.
According to the ED, the Trust is "not registered" under the FCRA and does not possess the "mandatory permission" or a designated FCRA bank account to receive foreign contributions.
It was found that a part of these foreign contributions was "utilised" for the purchase of agricultural land in India, in violation of the existing regulations.
The search action found that the Trust received Rs 2.49 crore in "cash" from Ali in violation of FEMA provisions.
"During the search, incriminating documents, ledger accounts showing unsecured loans of Rs 220 crore, the cash book of the Trust, and a hard disk containing financial data were seized," the ED said.
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