delhi

Updated: Apr 20, 2019 08:40 IST

A 24-year-old electrician was killed on the Signature Bridge early Thursday morning, while he was riding his bike home in northeast Delhi’s Sonia Vihar. His family members alleged that a thick metal wire attached to a winch and the bridge, which allegedly broke off during Wednesday’s dust storm, pierced his chest after hitting his head and face.

The electrician, identified as Pranav Mishra, died a day before his second marriage anniversary. “Some people on the bridge told me that the wire was dangling after it broke off. It hit my brother’s head and pierced his chest, causing him to lose control of his bike and fall. His bike skidded on the road and he hit the divider,” said Mishra’s brother Madan Mishra.

Shishir Bansal, chief project manager of the Wazirabad Bridge Project, later renamed as Signature Bridge, however, refuted the family’s allegations.

“I am saying this on record that none of the cables of the bridge broke due to the strong winds or hit the biker. All the cables are intact and not a single one was dangling. Also, nothing fell from the pylon,” said Bansal.

The police, on the other hand, said that the person who had informed the police control room about the incident had also mentioned a broken metal wire. They confirmed that Mishra suffered a severe head trauma caused by a blunt object and stab wound to

his chest.

“We are waiting for the autopsy report to ascertain the exact cause of death. A case of death by negligence under Section 304A of the IPC has been registered. We are trying to ascertain the sequence of events that led to the accident and the biker’s death. Whether the cable was dangling or some metal fell off the bridge and hit him is a matter for the probe,” said Atul Kumar Thakur, deputy commissioner of police (northeast).

Police said they have cut a portion of the cable and sent it to a forensic lab to ascertain if it hit the biker or pierced him.

Mishra is survived by his parents, wife, two sisters, a brother and sister-in-law. He worked as an electrician at an inverter manufacturing factory in Peeragarhi.

Mishra’s father, Uma Kant Mishra, said that his son last spoke to his wife, Sapna Mishra, around midnight on Wednesday and told her that he would reach home in half an hour.

Around 6am, a policeman asked Madan to reach the Shastri Park police station. “The station house officer showed a picture of my brother’s body on his phone. There was a deep stab wound on his chest and a deep injury to his head and face as well. He told me that my brother died in an accident on the bridge,” said Madan.