Kancheepuram college student steps on live wire, electrocuted; locals protest outside EB office, block highway

CHENNAI: A 17-year-old college student died after allegedly stepping on a live electric wire lying on the ground at Vallapakkam near Walajabad in Kancheepuram district on Sunday (August 16).

The deceased was identified as Varaprasad of Vallapakkam. He was a first-year B.Com student at a private college in Pallavaram, Chennai.

According to police, Varaprasad had gone to a grove near Vallapakkam along with three friends to cut firewood as his college was closed for the day. While the group was cutting firewood at a grove near the Kancheepuram-Chengalpattu bypass road, Varaprasad allegedly stepped on a severed electric wire lying on the ground.

He suffered an electric shock and was thrown away. He died at the spot, police said.

On receiving information from his friends, personnel from the Walajabad police station reached the spot, recovered the body and sent it to the Kancheepuram district government hospital for postmortem.

Meanwhile, residents alleged that the EB officials had failed to remove the severed power cable despite it lying on the ground. More than 500 residents from Vallapakkam gathered at the Walajabad electricity board office and staged a protest.

The residents later blocked the Walajabad-Tambaram Highway, affecting traffic for around an hour.

Police personnel reached the spot and held talks with the protesters. After assuring them that appropriate action would be taken, the residents withdrew the road blockade and dispersed.