A 25-year old national-level wrestler Vishal Kumar Verma died after being electrocuted in a stadium in Ranchi, capital of Jharkhand on Tuesday afternoon.
Verma had represented Jharkhand state at various championships since 2005 and had stood at fourth position in senior national level competition this year.
The incident happened at Jaipal Singh stadium in Ranchi where the office of the Jharkhand State Wrestling Association (JSWA) is located.
The indoor stadium was built in 1978 and was said to be waterlogged due to heavy rains for the last few weeks.
Locals in Ranchi told The Hindu over phone that loose electric wire was hanging in the washroom of the stadium which was inundated with rainwater and when the wrestler Vishal Kumar Verma entered into it, he was electrocuted.
He succumbed to his injuries on way to the Ranchi sadar hospital.
“Preliminary investigation has revealed that death was due to electrocution. Faulty wiring seems to be main cause for this incident”, Shyamanand Mandal, a police official told local journalists.
Secretary of JSWA, Bholanath Singh, however, put the blame on Ranchi Municipal Corporation for the incident. “The RMC has been claiming renovation of the stadium for years but changes are far from visible...the ground floor gets flooded in every monsoon season”, Mr Singh said.
But the general manager of Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited , Ganesh Jha, denied the charges and said, “an executive engineer visited the site and reported there was no fault in the power connection provided by JBVNL…there could be a loose connection in the building’s internal electrical wiring”, he told local journalists in Ranchi.
Meanwhile, the Jharkhand wrestling association has demanded compensation of ` 10 lakh to Verma’s family from the state government. The association has also announced ` 1 lakh ex-gratia to the family of the deceased wrestler.
The incident has triggered a rage among the sports community of the tribal state, Jharkhand.
