Column with rope tied to Dahi Handi crashes, kills 7-year-old in Mumbai

Mumbai: A day of celebration turned into a nightmare for the Kadam family as they lost their seven-year-old son, Rudra, during

Janmashtami festivities at Malad’s Chikoowadi on Saturday afternoon.

The tragedy occurred when a group of children decided to celebrate their own mini

Dahi Handi. The rope for the handi had been tied between a tree and a brick column of a demolished single-storey structure. According to BMC, when the children attempted to break the handi around 3 pm, the brick column collapsed on Rudra, causing severe head injuries. He was rushed to Malvani General Hospital for treatment.

Dr Azhar Pathan, in charge of the hospital, said the boy’s head was “crushed” and there was nothing that the hospital could do to save him. He was declared brought dead.

Manisha Kadam, the child’s aunt, said there were demolition drives in the area recently. “The column that fell was part of a structure which was demolished, but the column had been left as it is,” she said.

Malwani police said the structure had been demolished by BMC a year ago but the column had been spared as a common electric meter had been fitted to it. They added that the brick column was only standing on a base end and, as a result, was not strong structurally.

Rudra studied at a nearby BMC school. His father, Kamlesh, works with an LPG cylinder agency and his mother is a domestic worker.

According to the police, Kamlesh created a five-foot-tall dahi handi for the kids who were keen on having their own celebrations in a by-lane. “He strung up the handi on a rope and tied one end of it to a tree. The other end was attached to a brick column of the demolished structure located nearby,” said a police officer.

The kids were taking turns to break the handi with a stick and some of them tried to swing from the rope. Rudra was standing alongside watching them.

Police said due to the tugging of the rope, the column, which was about five to six feet tall, collapsed and crushed the child. An autopsy was carried out later the same day at the Borivali post-mortem centre. Malwani Police have recorded an accidental death entry and are probing further.