Bangalore:
It was to drink water that 13-year-old Shaila, alias Ammu, went to a tap at a construction site in Subbannapalya on Tuesday evening. A fourth-floor parapet collapsed on her, even before the seventh standard student could take a sip, witnesses said.
An autorickshaw driver, who was passing by, rushed the girl to Sathya Sai Baba Hospital in Whitefield, where doctors announced her dead on arrival.
Witnesses suspected that the girl had died at the construction site itself. Ammu's neighbour in RS Palya and friend, Vighnesh, escaped with injuries to his head and hand. The children had earlier had prasadam from a nearby Ayyappa Temple, before they decided to quench their thirst.
Annamma, a witness residing opposite the ill-fated site, said she had seen the children playing there. The owner of the under construction building, however, accused the children of theft. "It was an accident and we are not responsible for such things. I had been to a bank when the incident occurred.
The watchman of the building had gone out and both the children had gone there to take the iron pieces to sell it to a scrap dealer," the owner, identified only as Vinay, said.
"The scrap dealer's shop was closed and hence the children returned to keep the metal piece back from the place they had taken it," he said.
Vinay sounded sure of what to do next, despite the girl's mother, Mary, lodging a case of negligence with the police. Vinay said that he would pay compensation to the girl's parents. The police said he had also offered compensation to the injured Vighnesh. Mary lodged the complaint after the intervention of Divyashakti Charitable Trust on Wednesday. The trust has been providing education and hostel facilities to the deceased girl's two siblings, Lydia and Andrew. The deceased was a student of RBANMS School on Dickenson Road.
The police said that the incident occurred around 5 pm, contrary to the witnesses' account that the parapet had collapsed between 2.30 pm and 3 pm. The police also said no construction workers were present at the site, which was disputed by the witnesses.
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