Varanasi: A seven-year-old boy died of electrocution after coming in contact with a metal pole at a Durga Puja pandal in Khathara village under Kerakat police station on Sunday night.
The incident occurred during aarti around 8.30pm, when electric current reportedly passed through a steel pipe installed at the pandal. Rivyansh Saroj (7), sustained severe burns and died While playing near it.
Kerakat SDM Akhilesh Kumar Singh said district administration and police officials inspected the site after the incident. The SDM said the initial investigation found that the puja had been organised at the site for several years and was recorded in the local police register. His father works in Mumbai to support the family, while his three-year-old sister was at home. As the family was unwilling to lodge a complaint, police completed the necessary formalities and handed over the body to them for the last rites. However, the organisers had not obtained a proper electricity connection for the pandal. Power department officials were initiating necessary action against those responsible, he added.