15-year-old dies in gym as dumbbell slips out of hand, falls on his head

The deceased, S Mohanasundaram, of Agathiar Nagar in Villivakkam, had secured 427 marks out of 500 in Class 10 board exams and was about to begin classes for Class 11 in the same private school in Sidco Nagar.

The police said, the teenager was very enthusiastic about fitness and hence his parents allowed him to join a private gym near Nadhamuni theatre two weeks ago. Around 8 pm on Tuesday, Mohanasundaram attempted to do the bench press (done to develop the chest) at the gym with two dumbbells. During the exercise session, one of the weights accidentally slipped and fell on his forehead. He started bleeding profusely and soon fell unconscious.

Others present in the gym rushed him to a nearby private hospital from where he was referred to Kilpauk Medical College (KMC) Hospital. However, doctors declared him dead on arrival and the body was later sent for post-mortem.

Villivakkam police registered a case under Section 304(a) of the IPC (causing death by negligence) against gym owner R Vinoth Kumar (29) of Ambattur and detained him. He was later released on bail.

Further investigation is on. Mohanasundaram’s mother Vasantha Pushpalatha said that she let her son join the gym as he was obsessed with fitness. The deceased’s father Suresh is an employee of TANGEDCO.

When asked about guidelines in training first-timers in gyms, Ajay of Royapuram, who works at a popular chain of gyms, said that those who join the gym for the first time need proper guidance and should be constantly monitored. “Initially, they should be made to do physical workouts for muscles to flex before they are allowed to go further and start training using machinery. But this rule is not followed in many gyms,” he said. “In most gyms, even after paying huge sums for annual membership, customers are not given individual attention as they don’t opt for personalised training for which they have to pay separately,” he added.