Kolkata: National level wrestler Vishal Kumar Verma died of electrocution in the Jharkhand State Wrestling Association (JSWA) office at the Jaipal Singh Stadium on Tuesday.
According to reports, the 25-year old was electrocuted at around 2pm when he visited the dilapidated JSWA stadium building.
The wrestler was immediately rushed to the Ranchi Sadar Hospital but he died on the way.
“Preliminary investigation has revealed that death was due to electrocution. Vishal was using a water pump to clear out the water when the incident took place. Faulty wiring seems to be main cause for this incident,” said Shyamanad Mandal, the officer-in-charge of Kotwali Police Station.
Bholanath Singh, the secretary of the JSWA held the Ranchi Municipal Corporation responsible for their negligence.
He said, “The RMC has been claiming renovation of the stadium for years, but changes are far from visible. The ground floor is almost always flooded in monsoon.”
The stadium which was built in 1978 had been flooded ever since the monsoon season began and with the heavy downpour over the past few weeks, the condition has even worsened.
An official also said that negligence has resulted in the death of the young wrestler.
“The building has been labelled risky (by RMC), but players still live there and offices function. Sustained negligence has cost a life,” he said.
But Ganesh Jha, the general manager of the Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam, denied the fact that they had a role in the tragic incident as they believed that a loose connection might have resulted in the death of the wrestler.
“An executive engineer visited the site and reported that there is no fault in the power connection provided by JBVNL. However, there could be a loose connection in the building’s internal electrical wiring,” said Jha.
Bholanath Singh said that Verma had represented Jharkhand at various state-level championships since 2005 and had even stood forth in the senior nationals this year. He said, “Vishal had stood fourth in the last senior national wrestling championship.”
The JSWA has declared a compensation of ₹1 lakh for the deceased wrestler’s family. Also it has urged the state government to provide a compensation of ₹10 lakh for Verma’s family and they themselves have provided ₹10,000 to them until one of Verma’s four sisters get a job.