Maharashtra: Two workers die after falling into duct in Pimpri-Chinchwad; probe underway

Pune (Maharashtra) [India], August 27 (ANI): Two workers died after being trapped inside a duct near Lokmanya Hospital in the Nigdi Pradhikaran area of Pimpri-Chinchwad, police said on Thursday.
The deceased have been identified as Manoj Baburao Shinde (26) and Amol Ashok Shinde (19), both natives of Siddheshwar village in Aundha taluka of Hingoli district, police said.
According to Mahesh Bansode, Police Inspector of Nigdi Police Station, the police received information at around 11:45 pm on August 26 that two persons had fallen into a duct in front of Nirmal Villa bungalow, near Lokmanya Hospital in Pradhikaran, Nigdi.
"Police reached the spot and, with the help of the fire brigade, both persons were rescued from the duct and shifted to YCM Hospital for treatment. However, doctors declared them dead," Bansode said.
The officer said the police are investigating why the two men had entered the duct and who had asked them to carry out the work.
Bansode said the duct is associated with BSNL and police are also making inquiries with BSNL officials, though it has not yet been conclusively established whether the deceased were carrying out BSNL-related work.
Importantly, a similar incident had occurred at the same duct last year, when three people died due to suffocation on August 15, he said.
"A case of culpable homicide was registered at Nigdi Police Station in connection with last year's incident. With the two deaths reported now, a total of five people have died in this duct so far," Bansode said.
Further investigation is underway, police said.
In a separate incident, a tragic road accident took place in Bavdhan on August 17, claiming the life of a 10-year-old boy. The boy was travelling with his father and sister on a two-wheeler when a truck approaching from behind hit their vehicle.
According to preliminary information, Sandeep Patoale was taking his two children to their classes on a two-wheeler. As they were passing through the VTV Circle, where traffic from both directions merges onto the same stretch of road, a truck coming from behind struck their two-wheeler. (ANI)