Indus Valley Times

Meerut,July 16 :  Five kanwariyas were electrocuted in Meerut after a speaker on their vehicle came in contact with a high-tension overhead wire in the Bhawanpur area of this Uttar Pradesh district, police said on Saturday. Several others on the Kanwar Yatra were injured in the incident.

The kanwariyas were returning from Haridwar after having collected the holy water and had just entered Meerut when the accident occurred.

Angered by the incident, the kanwariyas created a ruckus by blocking the road. They also accused officials of the Electricity Department of negligence.

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Confirming the deaths of the five people, District Magistrate Deepak Meena said the injured are undergoing treatment.

“The accident occurred when a group of kanwariyas were returning to their village on a vehicle around 8 pm. Some part of the vehicle touched the high-tension wire overhead,” Meena said. Ten kanwariyas were admitted to the hospital. Of them, five died during treatment, he said.

Enraged villagers staged a protest over the incident. Additional forces have been deployed to avoid any untoward incident, the police said.

This came after four kanwariyas were killed and several injured in separate road accidents in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district between Friday and Saturday.

Six Kanwariyas were injured in separate incidents in the national capital, police said on Saturday. In the first incident, a 38-year-old Kanwariya was injured allegedly after a taxi hit him on the Vasant Vihar flyover in southwest Delhi.

Police rushed to the spot where the injured, identified as Dharmender Mewat in Haryana, was shifted to AIIMS Trauma Centre. There was a minor injury on his head and he was discharged after treatment, a senior police officer said.

-PTI