A cable theft attempt in Beed, Maharashtra, turned deadly when a power transmission tower collapsed, resulting in the deaths of a man and a teenager, prompting a police investigation and multiple arrests.
A man and a teenaged boy died after the power transmission tower they climbed onto to allegedly steal high-voltage cables collapsed in Maharashtra's Beed district, a police official said on Monday.
The incident occurred around 2:30am on Sunday near Nandurghat in Kaij tehsil, which is on the border with Dharashiv district, the official said.
"Avinash Batole (17) and Akash Shriram Ade, both hailing from Medankarwadi near Chakan in Pune district, had arrived at the site with four accomplices in a car owned by one Suraj Giram. The duo climbed the tower, while the accomplices cut the heavy cables from one side, which caused the tower to get disbalanced and keel over," the official said.
"Batole and Ade were crushed to death. Their associates tried to pass off the incident as a road accident. They loaded the bodies in their car and fled to Parbhani district. They then abandoned the vehicle, while Giram moved the two bodies to a nearby hospital in an ambulance," the official added.
However, the plan came unstuck after some kin of Batole and Ade arrived at the hospital, raised suspicion about the deaths and created commotion, which resulted in a team under Kaij assistant police inspector Mahesh Kshirsagar reaching the spot, the official said.
Further probe led police to the site of the tower collapse, which had bloodstains, footwear, water bottles etc strewn around, leading to unravelling of the chain of events that caused the deaths of Batole and Ade, he said.
"Our probe found the theft was masterminded by one Vaibhav Adak, a resident of Chakan in Pune. We have so far arrested Giram, as well as Ashok Gaikwad and Vaijnath Kadam from Majalgaon in the case. Those absconding are Adak, Akash Pethe and Deepak Bhagat. A team under Kaij inspector Swapnil Unawane is probing further," the official informed.